Texaco Achieves Milestones in Development of North Sea Field

abarrelfull wrote on 30 Apr 2013 13:53
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July 11

At ceremonies in Spain and Scotland last week Texaco celebrated the completion of projects that bring its $800 million development of the Captain Field in the U.K. North Sea closer to realization. The field is expected to come onstream in December 1996.

The Captain Field is located approximately 90 miles northeast of Aberdeen, Scotland, situated in Block 13/22a in the Inner Moray Firth. Estimated recoverable reserves of more than 300 million barrels of oil and 53 billion cubic feet of natural gas lie some 3,000 feet below sea level at a water depth of 350 feet. The oil has an API gravity rating of 19 to 21 degrees.

At the ASTANO shipyard in El Ferrol, Spain, the company launched a floating production, storage and off-loading vessel, (FPSO) that will process approximately 60,000 barrels of oil per day. The vessel will be positioned approximately one mile from the Captain platform and be linked to the platform by seabed flow lines.

At a ceremony at the UiE facility in Glasgow, Scotland, Texaco commemorated the completion of the 6,000-ton wellhead protection platform that includes a 120-foot-tall steel jacket and an 8,000-ton deck. These structures will be towed to the field and installed in mid-August.

The central drilling and production facilities include a wellhead protection platform connected by pipeline to the FPSO. Later stages of development will utilize subsea tie-backs to the FPSO. The crude oil will be offloaded from the FPSO by a shuttle tanker.

These milestones were achieved through an innovative alliance that brought together complementary expertise, providing for the complete design and construction of the Captain infrastructure. The fundamental principle of this contracting agreement was shared risk and reward: instilling a sense of common purpose and common goals between Texaco and its alliance partners. Those partners comprise ABB Global Engineering, Coflexip-Stena Offshore, ASTANO and UiE Scotland.

In commenting on the achievement of these milestones, Peter I. Bijur, Texaco's newly installed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "Because of our alliance partners' common understanding of the project, their joint commitment and their pride in the project, we are set to bring Captain's development schedule to a successful completion in just under two years.

"The success of this project is a cornerstone for the growth of Texaco's production base and earnings, pointing the way for future developments," Bijur said.

• Texaco Achieves Milestones in Development of North Sea Field

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