BP brings North Sea field trio back online

Three BP-operated North Sea fields have resumed production, following the repair of the Forties pipeline, which is used to transport oil and gas from a number of UK North Sea fields to the shore. 

The three fields in question are Bruce, Keith and Rhum. They are currently still operated by BP but the operatorship will transfer to Serica Energy in mid-2018 once the sale and purchase agreement between BP and Serica has been completed.

Through a deal signed in November 2017 Serica agreed to take over BP’s interests in the Bruce (36%), Keith (34.83%) and Rhum (50%) fields, with BP retaining 1% of Bruce. The deal has an effective date of January 1, 2018 and completion of the acquisition is expected to take place in mid-2018.

Upon completion, operatorship of the assets will transfer from BP to Serica, enabling Serica to drive full potential from the assets.

Following the completion of repair works on the Forties pipeline in early January, Serica said on Friday it had been informed by BP that these fields had each resumed production.

The fields were shut in on December 11, 2017, along with all the other fields using the system and have been brought back into production as part of a phased restart of the whole Forties Pipeline System.

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 40 kilometres to the north of Bruce, was brought into production in 2005.

The Bruce assets are expected to transition to Serica as a fully operational entity with around 110 staff who operate and support the assets expected to transfer with the business.

Serica was also impacted by Forties shutdown through participation in another North Sea field. Namely, Serica in December reduced its yearly output guidance following the temporary shutdown of the Chevron-operated Erskine field caused by the pipeline closure. Erskine was restarted in the first week of January.

Offshore Energy Today Staff