Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – BP has started oil production from the Valhall field redevelopment project in the Norwegian North Sea.
Bob Dudley, BP Group CEO, said: “It is one of BP’s most complex field expansion developments and gives Valhall a further 40-year design life with the capacity to handle 120,000 bbl of oil and 143 MMcf of gas per day.”
Production fromValhall is expected to climb to about 65,000 boe/d during the second half of this year.
Redevelopment involved constructing and installing a new production, utilities and accommodation platform with an 18,500-metric ton (20,393-ton) topsides supported by an 8,400-metric ton (9,259-ton) steel jacket; a system of bridges and walkways linking the new facility to the existing Valhall complex; a power-from-shore system; and an integrated operating environment linking onshore and offshore personnel.
Valhall is now powered entirely from the Norwegian mainland, via a294-km (182-mi) DC cable from Lista making it the first field offshore Norway to employ such an arrangement. It should cut direct emissions to air from the Valhall field to virtually zero, BP claims.
The Valhall complex now has six separate manned platforms: quarters; drilling; production; wellheads; water injection; and the new combined process and hotel platform. Additionally, it has two unmanned flank platforms, each roughly 6 km (3.7 mi) from the main facilities.
BP discovered Valhall in 1975, and achieved first production in 1982. Redevelopment should extend the field’s life through 2050. The company has a 35.9% operating interest, the remainder held by Hess Norge.
1/29/2013
