BP starts up Clair Ridge production

BP, on behalf of co-venturers Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, has announced first oil production from the giant Clair Ridge project in the West of Shetland region offshore UK.

Clair Ridge is the second phase of development of the Clair field, 75 km West of Shetland. The field, which was discovered in 1977, has an estimated seven billion bbl of hydrocarbons.

Two new, bridge-linked platforms and oil and gas export pipelines have been constructed as part of the Clair Ridge project. The new facilities, which required capital investment in excess of £4.5 billion, are designed for 40 years of production. The project has been designed to recover an estimated 640 million bbl of oil with production expected to ramp up to a peak at plateau level of 120,000 BPD.

“The start-up of Clair Ridge is a culmination of decades of persistence,” Bernard Looney, BP chief executive Upstream, said. “Clair was the first discovery we made in the West of Shetland area in 1977. But trying to access and produce its seven billion bbl proved very difficult. We had to leverage our technology and ingenuity to successfully bring on the first phase of this development in 2005.”