Industrial services firm Cape Plc has been awarded a contract to supply services within BP's UK North Sea Magnus Life Extension project, MLXP.
MLXP is a project being undertaken by BP as part of its North Sea renewals program, and will see work carried out continuously from now through to Q2 2015. The North Sea business will then work systematically to renew and refresh the fabric of the asset on a large-scale-project basis, clearing the way to embark on new drilling and the value-adding work that will see Magnus maximise its potential.
Simon Hicks, Managing Director of Cape UK: "We are delighted to be awarded this project to support BP in its North Sea renewals programme, we look forward to working with BP to deliver this project safely and effectively"
Read more: BP's North Sea renewal campaign
Magnus and the Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) are the first two assets identified for BP's North Sea renewal program, starting with MLXP.
Magnus was discovered in 1974. It is in 186m water depth in block 211/12, 160km northeast of the Shetland Island.
It had 1.6billion bbls initially in place and has been producing for 29 years, with peak production in 1990, at 176,000 b/d, 12,000 b/d gas condensate and 60MMcf/d gas. It has an estimated 900MM bbls recoverable and 500Bcf gas. BP’s estimated cessation of production date is currently 2027.
The facility comprises a central, conventional-steel, combined drilling and production platform, with 190 beds. The field contains a number of subsea producing wells.
Gas export is via pipeline to the Brent Alpha platform. Oil is exported via a pipeline to the Ninian Central platform.
The MLXP workscope is non-shutdown- dependent and is mainly fabric maintenance, modification projects, and general maintenance.
The scope will use 143 POB, over and above the existing core crew, working a 24-hour day over 12 months (totaling circa 500,000 productive man-hours). About 30% of the extra 143 POB will be “green hats” initially, requiring close supervision—strict processes of control of work (CoW) and simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) will be followed.
The increased staffing requires a flotel alongside, to allow for 450 POB in field at a time, increased helicopter operations, and additional attendant vessel operations.
BP will use the 1976-built semisubmersible flotel COSL Rival, with a maximum 400 POB, expected to arrive in field in Q1 2014, and remain at Magnus for 12-13 months.
Drilling operations will be paused during the campaign to simplify management and interfaces.
The three main projects included in the intervention are: accommodation refurbishment; drilling upgrades, which consist of a blowout preventer (BOP) controls upgrade, BOP crane upgrade, cooling upgrades; crane replacement, and boom rest change out.
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