BP halts production at west of Shetland oil Foinaven oil fields

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - BP has halted production indefinitely at the Foinaven crude fields, west of Shetland, in preparation for the removal of the ageing floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), the company said Thursday.

The move effectively ends production at the iconic field, which had suffered production setbacks as output dropped from over 100,000 b/d at the peak in 2002 to just over 10,000 b/d in 2020.

West of Sheltand produces heavy crude, rather than light sweet grades such as Brent and Forties, which are typically associated with North Sea production.

The west of Shetland is notoriously difficult for oil exploration and production, due to the harsh conditions in the north Atlantic.

BP North Sea's senior vice president Emeka Emembolu said: "The Petrojarl Foinaven FPSO has been an icon in the North Sea, serving the first deep water development on the UKCS (UK Continental Shelf) and to the West of Shetland.

"Foinaven was the forerunner to our major Schiehallion and Clair developments which have helped establish the West of Shetland as a key strategic hub in BP's global portfolio.

"Retiring the long-serving FPSO is now the safest and most economical option at this point. It also provides an opportunity to set the fields up for safe, efficient and more sustainable oil and gas production in the future."

The Foinaven area comprises the Foinaven and Foinaven East fields, 100 miles (160km) west of Shetland in water depths of up to 600m (1968ft).

BP said that, to date, 390 million barrels of oil have been recovered from the Foinaven area.