Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK – Repsol Sinopec Resources UK has provided an update on its P&A campaign at the decommissioned Beatrice field in the Outer Moray Firth in the UK North Sea.
At Beatrice Charlie, all wells have now been P&A’d while work has been completed on seven of the 11 wells drilled from the Bravo platform.
The company is reviewing recycling removal options for the jackets and topsides modules, but does not expect to start this program until 2024.
As for Beatrice Alpha, a three-year, 30-well campaign is scheduled to start in 2022, incorporating lessons learnt from the current program.
P&A basically involves permanently sealing the wellbore from the oil reservoir to the surface, normally through placement of physical barriers in the wellbore to prevent hydrocarbons travelling to shallower zones or up to the seafloor.
Typically, the barriers are installed deep in the well to re-establish the cap on the reservoir – at the Beatrice field, additional permanent barriers are being placed across shallower zones above the reservoir to prevent migration of hydrocarbons.
This design should prevent hydrocarbon leaks to the surface/seabed, the company adds.
The Beatrice field facilities were installed from 1979 onwards in block 11/30a, with first oil following in 1981. The development infrastructure comprises four conventional steel platforms, the Alpha complex (two platforms), Bravo and Charlie; an export pipeline to shore; various in-field pipelines and cables; two wind turbines; and the Nigg onshore terminal in northeast Scotland.
Decommissioning of the subsea infrastructure will be defined and agreed with the regulator. All removable facilities will be brought onshore and recycled.
Ithaca Energy owns the Jacky platform adjacent to the offshore facilities: this will be subject to a separate decommissioning program.
03/19/2018
