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Amec Foster Wheeler / BP
The Clair field is located 75 km west of the Shetland Islands in 150 m of water and extends over an area of 220 km². Clair Ridge is the second phase of development of the Clair field which, with an estimated eight billion barrels of oil in place, is the largest undeveloped hydrocarbon resource on the UKCS. Clair was discovered in 1977, but challenging reservoir characteristics and the technological limits of the time meant it was the mid-1990s before the field saw extensive drilling and 2001 before BP and partners approved a development plan.
To the north is Clair Ridge, where BP is targeting 640 million barrels of recoverable resources. The £4.5bn investment involves two new bridge-linked platforms, the jackets (legs) of which were installed in the summer of 2013. In 2015, the platform’s quarters and utilities (QU) topside modules were safely installed and construction was complete in June 2016 with the installation of the final topside modules. Hook-up and commissioning is now under way with first oil expected at the end of 2017. Amec Foster Wheeler, a major contractor to the Clair Project, consulted ABLE Instruments & Controls Ltd with regard to the critical requirement for heater protection on the platforms’ HVAC modules. ABLE provided an effective solution by way of their DuctMaster TM Ultra –Low Velocity Flow Switch, part of ABLE’s Master Series of innovative flow technology instrumentation. The DuctMaster will be used to detect the loss of flow under extremely low velocity conditions. Clair Ridge is designed to continue producing until 2050 at a peak rate of more than 100,000 barrels of oil per day. It will see the world’s first deployment of BP’s enhanced oil recovery technology LoSal®, a water injection method that is expected to deliver an additional 40 million barrels of oil. BP are continuing their appraisal drilling program in the Clair field to help define a possible third phase of development.