Bibby Offshore carries out IRM work on BP’s North Sea asset

Bibby Offshore, a subsea services provider to the oil and gas industry, has completed a contract worth more than £2 million ($2.8M) for BP in the North Sea. 

The project, completed in December 2017, utilized Bibby Offshore’s diving support vessel Bibby Topaz to carry out inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) operations in the Rhum gas field, approximately 380 kilometers north-east of Aberdeen, Bibby said on Wednesday.

The scope included control system low insulation resistance diagnostics and component replacements, manual valve operations and ROV inspection works at BP’s Bruce platform, which is located 44 kilometres south of Rhum.

The project was also supported by an onshore engineering team to meet urgent client needs.

The Bruce, Keith and Rhum fields are currently operated by BP but the operatorship is expected to transfer to Serica Energy later in 2018 once the sale and purchase agreement between BP and Serica has been completed.

Namely, Serica last November signed an agreement with BP for the acquisition of BP’s interests in the Bruce, Keith, and Rhum (BKR) fields and associated infrastructure. Under the terms of the acquisition, Serica will acquire a 36% interest in Bruce, a 34.83% interest in Keith and a 50% interest in Rhum. Completion of the acquisition is expected to take place in 3Q 2018.

Meanwhile, BP in January 2018 awarded a contract for a rig to carry out the re-entry and re-completion of the previously drilled but not yet producing Rhum #3 well. This work will be carried out during 2Q and 3Q this year and production will start before the year-end.

The Bruce field was discovered in 1974 and came into production in 1993, with Keith tied back to Bruce in 2000. Rhum, a high-pressure, high-temperature satellite field located in block 3/29a 40 kilometers to the north of Bruce, was brought into production in 2005 as a subsea development tied back to the Bruce platform via an insulated pipeline.

Offshore Energy Today Staff