BP peak oil (UK decline, asset sales and decommissioning Part 1)
West of the Shetland Islands, the battle against oil decline is over for BP. SPGlobal reports:
BP halts production at oldest West of Shetland oil facility Foinaven on asset decline
15 Apr 2021
London — BP has halted production at its oldest West of Shetland oil facility, Foinaven, citing the age of the facility [Petrojarl] and operational challenges, as several BP facilities in the region suffer output setbacks.
Fig 1: FPSO (Floating Production Storage Offloading) Petrojarl Foinhaven, 250 m long, 280 kb storage
https://www.teekay.com/petrojarl-foinaven/
Production from the deepwater field dropped sharply again last year, to 12,000 b/d, far off its 2002 peak of 113,000 b/d.
BP said the field could still contain up to 200 million barrels of resources, which could still be extracted with further investment in alternative facilities, but the current facilities were no longer viable.
“Work had been underway to consider options to extend the life of the vessel out to 2025,” BP said. “However, it has now been concluded that, due to its age and the demands of operating West of Shetland, even with material further investment the Petrojarl Foinaven is not the right vehicle to recover the remaining resources from the Foinaven fields.”
https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/oil/041521-bp-halts-production-at-oldest-west-of-shetland-oil-facility-foinaven-on-asset-decline
Let’s have a look at the Foinhaven production, using data from the UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA):
Fig 2: Foinhaven oil production history
Underlying image: https://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/foinaven/
Off the continental shelf at 400-600 m water depth
Using above OGA data, 393 mb have been produced until January 2021. In BP’s 1998 Form 20-F, Foinhaven’s BP share of reserves(72%) were given as 193 mb, i.e. a total of 268 mb. That oil was extracted by 2007 when production had dropped to half its peak. The reserve growth was therefore 125 mb, but at a much lower and still declining production level.
Foinhaven is located 190 kms west of the Shetland Islands as shown on this map:
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