BP faces North Sea challenges

This paper examines British Petroleum's work on the following projects: Buchan field, with its faulted and fractured reservoir, is to have gas lift installed; Magnus field's platform, the tallest in the North Sea, is nearing completion, and development drilling is due to start; research on polymers to be used for enhanced recovery in older fields; and the Single Well Oil Production System (SWOPS) task group continues its development work to prepare for exploitation of small but well-defined oil accumulations. A diagram is presented of viscometer developed by BP scientists to operate over a long period of time under controlled temperature conditions. Design criteria for a suitable vessel to be used on a SWOPS facility include: ability to work in water depths from 250 to 650 ft; excursion from station under dynamic positioning limited to 6% of water depth; production-handling equipment; maximum gas production rate; equipment to handle 15% water cut by volume; and equipment rated for 5,000 psi pressure.