BP to invest £700m in new North Sea oilfield

The investment in the new oil field will also extend the life of BP's Andrew platform

BP has announced a £700m investment in a new North Sea oilfield, creating more than 1,000 jobs.

The development of the Kinnoull Field, 140 miles north east of Aberdeen, will also extend the life of the nearby Andrew platform by about 10 years.

The jobs will involve building subsea infrastructure in Wick, Hartlepool and Leeds.

BP made the announcement at the Offshore Europe oil and gas conference and exhibition in Aberdeen.

Kinnoull is the largest of three reservoirs being developed as part of the Andrew Area developments project, and is estimated to contain 45 million barrels of oil.

BP said the reservoir would be connected to its Andrew platform and enable production to be extended to 2020 and beyond.

Production from Kinnoull, which is forecast to peak at 45,000 barrels a day, will be exported via the existing Forties pipeline to Kinneil and the Cats pipeline to Teesside.

In order to access the new reservoir, the project will install a new subsea system on to the Andrew platform.

Its backbone will be four subsea pipeline bundles with a total length of 17.4 miles - the longest bundle system in the world - which will carry oil to the Andrew platform for processing.

The bundle system will be fabricated by Subsea 7 at its facility in Wick.

Trevor Garlick, regional president for BP's North Sea business, commented: "The Kinnoull project is a further demonstration of BP's vision to sustain a material and high quality business in the North Sea region.

"It is also a showcase for the outstanding subsea expertise that exists within the UK."

Since it started production in 1996, BP's Andrew platform has processed and exported over 200 million barrels of oil and the equivalent of a further 40 million barrels in associated gas.