VIDEO: Chevron’s Alder field goes online 40 years after discovery

Oil major Chevron has launched a video showing the company’s journey to the first produced gas at Alder, a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) gas condensate field in the UK sector of the North Sea.

The field is operated by Chevron which has a 73.684 percent interest while its co-venturer ConocoPhillips has a 26.316 percent stake.

The 40-year journey for Chevron began in 1975 when the field was discovered. At the time, the development of the gas condensate field was considered impossible due to challenges of high pressure of around 12,500 psi and temperature of around 150 degrees Celsius in the field’s reservoir which lies 14,700ft (4,480m) beneath the seabed.

Lack of adequate technology meant that the field was not profitable for development. Chevron considered the development of the field back in 2000 and 2006, but it was not until 2009 that advances in subsea innovation and technology, and the availability of throughput on the host platform, Britannia, made Alder possible.

Chevron reached a final investment decision for the Alder field in January 2014. On Monday, November 7, 2016, the company announced first gas production from the field which has a planned design capacity of 110 million cubic feet of natural gas and 14,000 barrels of condensate per day. The oil company said that production from the Alder HPHT field was expected to ramp up over the coming months.

Alder is a single subsea well tied back, via a 28-kilometer pipeline, to the existing ConocoPhillips-operated Britannia platform, in which Chevron holds a 32.38 percent non-operated working interest.

Offshore Energy Today Staff