Brent Oil Field
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UK Oil & Gas Fields
Shell Oil & Gas Fields
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Summary Information
- Operator: Shell
- Country: UK
- Location: East Shetland Basin
- Production start: 1976
- Partners:
- Type: Oil & Gas
- Estimated Reserves:
- Production Volume:
Description
- The Brent field is situated 186km (116 miles) offshore, north-east of Lerwick, Scotland, at a water depth of 140m (460ft), and has four large platforms; Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta.
- A fifth Platform, Brent Spar was removed
- Brent Charlie is a fixed, manned drilling and production Installation for the Brent Field. It was installed in 1978 and started production in 1981. It consists of a four leg concrete gravity structure with a base of 36 reinforced concrete cells, which stand in about 141m of water. This supports a deck which supports drilling, process, utility and accommodation modules
- The Penguin Oil Fields are tied back to Brent Charlie
- The Brent Remote Flare fulfilled a safety function for the Brent Alpha and Bravo production platforms but became obsolete following the Brent Long Term Field Development (LTFD) and Brent Alpha Redevelopment (BAR) Projects and has been removed
- Although originally an oil field, Brent is now producing predominantly gas
- Oil is transported to the Sullom Voe Oil Terminal via the Brent System Oil Pipeline
- Gas is transported via the Far North Liquids And Associated Gas System (Flags) Pipeline
Contractors
- Redpath Dorman Long: Brent Alpha Platform Construction
- Norwegian Contractors: Brent Bravo & Delta Platform Construction
- Kvaerner: Brent B & D Decks
- McAlpine/Sea Tank: Brent Charlie Platform Construction
- Penn & Baudwin: Brent B Modules
- Cleveland Bridge: Brent C Modules
- Foster Wheeler: Brent D Modules
- BiFab:
- Conceptual Design and Detailed Design of 94 Man Replacement Living Quarters and Helideck Engineering, Procurement and Construction for Single Lift
- Engineering Procurement and Construction of Drilling Module
- Bravo Replacement Living Quarters
- Charlie Replacement Living Quarters
Decommissioning
- Technip: Diving operations to prepare for decommissioning of the Brent Delta facilities
History
- 1971 - Brent oil field discovered
- 1976 - Government approval given for development
- 1976 - First Oil Produced
- 1995 - Shell became embroiled in a public dispute over the decommissioning and disposal of the Brent Spar
- 2005 - The Brent Remote Flare was removed
- 2011 - The Brent Delta platform stopped producing
Geology
- Brent Field, discovered in the far north of the area in 1971, contains oil and gas within tilted layers of sandy rock. 170 million years ago, these layers were part of a river delta.
- Since then, the tilting movements, associated with the rifting Viking Graben have been followed by a long period of sagging. Muddy sediments - including Kimmeridge Clay, the source of the oil - have draped across the titled blocks (F33), filling the subsiding troughs between them, and sealing the eroded upper edges of the sandstone layers (F41) to form traps.
- Much later, oil was expelled downwards into the sandstones from the thick mudrock, now deeply buried within the troughs.
- The oil migrated up the tilted sandstone layers to collect in the crests. Some of the gas came from coal within the delta sediments. Oil is still migrating through the area. The sandstone layers, each more than 200 metres thick, have held over 500 billion litres of oil, for millions of years, within an area of 17 by 5 km.
Links
- A closer look at some North Sea fields
- Brent Field Decommissioning
- 2013 Annual Environmental Statement for Shell U.K
- UK Oil and Gas Fields by Approval Date
- List Of Oil and Gas Production Platforms In The UK
- List Of Oil Production Platforms In The UK
- International Protective Coatings Platform References
- FoundOcean Subsea References
- Kvaerner Topsides References
- Technip awarded four contracts for life of field services in the North Sea
page revision: 21, last edited: 13 Aug 2015 08:42