FAQ

What is the current status of the Beatrice asset?

Beatrice has now ceased production and decommissioning is planned.

Who owns the Beatrice facilities?

Repsol own 100% of the facilities except the two demonstrator wind turbines, which are jointly owned with Scottish and Southern Energy.

Where exactly is the Beatrice field?

The field is located in Block UK11/30 of the Moray Firth Basin region of the Central North Sea, 90 kilometres north east of Inverness and 22 kilometres from Helmsdale, just south of Wick, in north east Scotland.

What is the history of the field?

The Beatrice field was discovered in September 1976 by Mesa Petroleum Co. and production began on a test basis in September 1981, when five wells were brought on-stream at a combined rate of about 20,000 barrels of oil per day. First exports from the terminal came in November 1981. Ownership passed through a series of companies including BNOC (later to become Britoil) and subsequently BP (1988) from whom Talisman Energy (now Repsol Resources UK) acquired the facilities in 1996.

What are the production capabilities?

At its peak, the Alpha platform was capable of producing between 30,000 and 35,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Bravo platform was installed in 1983, with production from the platform starting in May 1984. As most of the production wells had been pre-drilled, the Bravo platform came on-stream at almost peak volumes of 14,000 barrels of oil per day..

The commissioning of the water injection wells on the Charlie platform boosted 1985 output to a peak of 54,000 barrels of oil per day.

In total there have been 43 wells drilled from the Beatrice facilities.

What do the platform facilities comprise?

The Beatrice facilities consist of five separate platforms, two of which are interlinked:

  • The Beatrice ‘Alpha’ (A) complex, comprising two structures which are bridge-linked: the ‘Alpha Drilling’ (AD) platform, with a topsides weight of 8693 tonnes (te) supported by an 8-legged steel jacket weighing 3225 te; and the Beatrice ‘Alpha Production’ (AP) platform, weighing 8968 te and supported by an 8-legged steel jacket weighing 2855 te.
  • The Beatrice ‘Bravo’ (B) complex, a production platform with a total operating weight of 5870 te and supported by two jacket structures, the ‘B’ jacket weighing 1860 te and the Conductor Support Structure (CSS) weighing 430 te.
  • The Beatrice ‘C’ platform used for water injection. It has an operating weight of 514 te and a 4-legged supporting structure weighing 730 te.

How deep are the Beatrice platforms?

Alpha and Bravo platforms stand in water at a depth of 46m while Charlie is at 50m.

How is Beatrice oil exported?

Beatrice production was transported by a pipeline to terminal facilities at Nigg where there are two storage tanks, each of 700,000 barrels working capacity, two ballast water tanks of 200,000 barrels, an effluent treatment plant and a loading jetty. Two crude oil processing trains are capable of handling 50,000 barrels of oil per day each and can load tankers between 40,000 dwt and 120,000 dwt at up to 8,000 te per hour (approximately 61,000 barrels per hour).

The Oil Terminal is also used for processing oil received by road tanker and for ship to ship transfers.

What is the pipeline profile for the Beatrice field?

The Beatrice pipeline complex consists of the following:

  • Main oil export pipeline PL16 / PL1838
  • Disused oil export pipeline PL16X
  • Production flowline PL112 / PL112 A
  • Disused BB-BA production flowline PL112X
  • Water injection pipeline PL111
  • Water injection pipeline PL252

The original PL16X pipeline was laid in 1979 and was trenched to a depth of at least one metre along its entire length. The pipeline had a diameter of 16” and was 80 kilometres long. Approximately 65 kilometres of pipeline were laid offshore with the remaining 9 kilometres running overland. The pipeline had a nominal capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

In August 2001, a 59 kilometres replacement section of PL16 was installed.

What other subsea infrastructure needs to be decommissioned?

Other infrastructure to be decommissioned (options to be determined through a comparative assessment of options) includes:

  • A total of 35 kilometres of cable including:
    • The power line from Beatrice AP to Beatrice B
    • The power line from Dunbeath onshore to Beatrice AP
  • The PL2331 collector cable-connector between demonstrator wind turbine A and Beatrice AP and between wind turbines A and B.