BP to develop two new fields in the North Sea

BP is set to quickly develop two new oil fields in the UK North Sea which are expected to produce 30,000 barrels gross of oil equivalent a day at peak production.

Alligin and Vorlich are satellite fields located near to existing infrastructure meaning they can be rapidly developed through established offshore hubs.

Alligin, a two-well development west of Shetland, will be tied back to BP’s Glen Lyon floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

Vorlich, in the central North Sea and also a two-well development, will be tied back to the Ithaca Energy-operated FPF-1 floating production facility, which lies at the centre of Ithaca’s Greater Stella Area production hub.

Both fields are expected to come on stream in 2020.

Project management, engineering, procurement and construction services for the subsea pipelines connecting the Alligin field to Glen Lyon will be delivered by Subsea 7, from its Aberdeen base. Offshore activities are expected to get underway in 2019.

Meanwhile, BP has submitted its environmental statement for the Vorlich development to the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and is finalising its contracting strategy for the development.

Alligin (BP 50% operator; Shell 50%) is a 20 million barrel recoverable oil field in the Greater Schiehallion Area, located approximately 140 kilometres west of Shetland

Vorlich (BP 66% operator; Ithaca 34%) is expected to recover over 30 million barrels of oil equivalent and is located approximately 241 kilometres east of Aberdeen.