BP gets go ahead for new North Sea oil field

BP has been given the green light to develop the Vorlich Field in the North Sea, which contains the equivalent of 30-million barrels of oil.

The field is expected to come on stream in 2020 and could produce 20,000 barrels a day.

The oil giant has received approval from the Oil and Gas Authority to proceed with the development in the central North Sea.

It said the £200 million project is part of a programme of North Sea subsea tie-back developments that seek to access important new production from fields located near to established producing infrastructure.

BP North Sea Regional President Ariel Flores said: BP is modernising and transforming the way we work, with a focus on accelerating the pace of delivery of projects like Vorlich.

Without compromising safety, we want to simplify our processes, reduce costs and improve project cycle time to increase the competitiveness of our North Sea business.

This is increasingly important as competition for global investment funds gets stiffer.

While not on the same scale as our huge Quad 204 and Clair Ridge projects, the Vorlich development provides another exciting addition to our refreshed North Sea portfolio and further demonstrates BP's commitment to the North Sea.''

Vorlich, a two-well development approximately 241 kilometres (150 miles) east of Aberdeen, will be tied back to the Ithaca Energy-operated FPF-1 floating production facility, which lies at the centre of Greater Stella Area production hub.

Ithaca has a 34% interest in Vorlich.

Scott Robertson, Central North Sea area manager at the Oil and Gas Authority said: The OGA has been actively involved throughout the Vorlich project and is pleased to approve this development.

The field will make an important contribution to our Maximising Economic Recovery UK (MER UK) priority as a valuable tieback utilising existing infrastructure and by maximising value from the Greater Stella Area hub.'