Subsea trees for BP’s first subsea field development reach T&T

Oil major BP announced on Thursday that all five subsea trees required for the Juniper project have arrived in Trinidad and Tobago.

The Juniper project is BP’s first subsea field development, located 50 miles off the south east coast of Trinidad.

The subsea tree is a complex configuration of valves and sensors installed on the wellhead to monitor and control the flow of hydrocarbons. As an essential piece of equipment for the Juniper project, each tree weighs approximately 76 tonnes.

According to the company these trees are among the largest and heaviest ever built.

After being offloaded at the Labidco yard for testing, BP said the trees would move to the offshore location for the BP’s Juniper field. Drilling of the five Juniper subsea wells began in 2015, and it was completed in March 2016. The completions activity currently in progress on all five wells will take place by 4Q 2016.

The Juniper project will have a production capacity of approximately 590 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd) of gas. First gas from the facility is expected in 2017.

BP Trinidad and Tobago Regional President Norman Christie said: “The arrival of the trees is another significant milestone in the delivery of the Juniper project. BPTT has committed to maintaining investment in Trinidad and Tobago, and to further develop the offshore acreage once the investment climate continues to support further investments in the upstream.”