All eyes on Culzean

Episode 5: Hook-up & Commissioning

The final phase: in our fifth film we take a look at the hook-up and commissioning phase which will take the project and the team working on it right up to first gas this summer. Their determination to finish strong, and to finish safe is clear.

Episode 4: Drilling

In the fourth of our mini-series on Culzean, find out more about the subsurface picture and how the drilling team has worked to ensure the most efficient and effective approach to drilling the HPHT wells that will deliver gas from 15,000ft below the seabed.

Episode 3: The FSO

Meet Ailsa, the boat built especially for Culzean. In the third of our mini-series we find out all about her, including how she was built and why she's so important.

Episode 2: Topsides Installation

In this, the second film in our Culzean series, we revisit the incredible feat of engineering that is the topsides installation which took place in Summer 2018. From build completion to load-out to installation, we have a ring-side seat.

Discovered in 2008 by Maersk Oil, Culzean is a HPHT gas condensate field in the East Central Graben area of the central North Sea, located 260 km off the coast of Aberdeen. It consists of lean gas accumulations in sandstone of the Jurassic Pentland formation and the Triassic Skaggerak formation.

With resources now estimated at 250-300 million barrels of oil equivalent, Culzean is the largest UK gas field to be sanctioned for quarter of a century. Its production is expected to start in 2019 and continue for at least 13 years, providing 5% of total UK gas demand.

Culzean in a few minutes

We are now on the final run up to first gas. Discover step by step how this huge project came to life.

More about culzean

Since project sanction in August 2015, the operator and co-venturers BP (32%) and JX Nippon (18.01%), have worked together effectively with suppliers to improve the project, supporting positive development in investment costs.

Those efforts have been extremely successful and the capital costs of the project have been reduced by $500 million: 11% of the project estimate at sanction. This is largely a result of higher drilling efficiency, robust upfront design, first-class project planning, and supply chain deflation.

First gas from the Culzean Field is expected in summer 2019 and the field is projected to deliver up to 5% of the total UK gas consumption when production is at plateau in 2020.