Offshore installation company Subsea 7 said Friday that July 2021 marked the successful installation of a 5km pipeline bundle for China-based CNOOC's Buzzard Phase II (BPII) project in the UK North Sea, moving the project a step forward towards the final commissioning and start-up of production this year.
"Subsea 7’s 88th Pipeline Bundle in 40 years is now in the Buzzard field ready to link the new northern area wells back to the existing platform.," the company said.
Subsea 7 was awarded the contract in 2018 for the project management, engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of the bundle, along with associated well and platform tie-ins for the project in the North Sea’s Outer Moray Firth, east of Scotland.
"Bundle technology is an ideal fit for this project. It provides all subsea production, water injection, and gas lift flowlines, as well as control functions and end manifolds in a single integrated system, which is fully fabricated and tested onshore. The BPII Bundle system also incorporates a large drill center manifold (36m long and 300 tonnes), allowing for up to 12 wells to be tied-in," Subsea 7 said.
The complete 5,500-tonne system was hauled 150 kilometers from Subsea 7's Wester manufacturing site near Wick, Scotland to the Buzzard offshore field, using a specialized mid-depth towing method
"This is the latest in a series of major achievements for the project which is being delivered using an innovative Alliance model," Subsea 7 said.
Last month saw the installation of the new topside module, with Subsea 7 working with Allseas and fellow Alliance members CNOOC International and Worley. 
Buzzard field - File photo: CNOOC
Willie Geddes, Alliance Delivery Manager and Project Director for Subsea 7, said: “It’s fantastic that we can celebrate the arrival of the subsea pipeline system into the field, taking us another major step towards the completion of this project. Thanks to a tremendous collective effort by the Alliance companies, everything is in place to proceed with the final hook-up and commissioning of the subsea and topside systems.”
Steve Wisely, Senior Vice President, UK & Global IRM for Subsea 7, added: “With each Buzzard milestone we see the value that this Alliance partnership offers our client. Using this integrated, flexible and mutually beneficial approach creates a greater degree of collaboration while enhancing project execution agility and performance. We are proud to be part of Team Buzzard, and in doing so provide another opportunity to demonstrate how effective a unified supply chain collaboration can be.”
The CNOOC International-operated Buzzard platform complex is located about 96 kilometers (km) northeast of Aberdeen in approximately 96 meters of water. The Buzzard Phase II development is a subsea development of the Buzzard northern area. The objective of the project is to develop additional reserves and bring new production on stream, supporting the goal of maximizing economic recovery in the North Sea.
The selected concept is a subsea development of the Buzzard northern area, approximately 5 kilometers northeast of Buzzard consisting of a 12-slot manifold (eight production slots and four water injection).
The development will tie back to the existing Buzzard complex with a pipeline bundle assembly incorporating pipelines, manifolds, subsea controls, and chemical injection, with a brownfield module installed on the Production Platform for processing and export via the current export pipeline routes.
The UK is one of CNOOC's key overseas areas. In 2020, the Buzzard oilfield’s daily net production reached approximately 38,000 BOE. The Buzzard oilfield Phase II is expected to start production in 2021.
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