Brent oilfield

Brent field
Brent field
	Brent field
Country	United Kingdom
Region	North Sea
Location	East Shetland Basin
Block(s)	211/29
Offshore/onshore	Offshore
Coordinates	60°54′N 1°48′E / 60.9°N 1.8°E{{#coordinates:60\|54\|N\|1\|48\|E\|type:waterbody_region:GB\|\| \| \|name= }}
Operator(s)	Shell UK Limited
Partners	Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil
Field history
Discovery	1971
Start of production	1976
Production
Producing formations	Kimmeridge Clay

The Brent field is an oil field located in the East Shetland Basin 186 kilometres (116 mi) north-east of Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland at the water depth of 140 metres (460 ft). The field operated by Shell UK Limited was once one of the most productive parts of the UK's offshore assets but is now nearing the end of its useful life.^[1]

Name

Shell initially named all of their UK oil fields after waterbirds in alphabetical order by discovery - Auk, Brent, Cormorant, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar and so on. Brent refers to the Brent Goose, although it is also an acronym for the members of the Jurassic Brent formation that make up the field: Broom, Rannoch, Etive, Ness and Tarbert (in turn named after features in the Scottish Highlands).^[2]

Geology

Situated in the East Shetland Basin, the Brent is the archetype for many of the fields in the area, consisting of a tilted fault block exposing the eponymous Brent formation next to bounding faults which allowed migration from deeper adjacent "kitchen" areas where the Kimmeridge Clay Formation becomes fully mature and releases hydrocarbons. Unusually on a worldwide scale (but common in this basin), the seal or cap rock for the reservoir (which stops the hydrocarbons from migrating further towards the surface) is also the Kimmeridge Clay.

The reservoir depth is 2,651 metres (8,698 ft).

Production

Production started-up on 11 November 1976 and on 13 December 1976 first tanker was loaded. The Brent field is exploited by four platforms in an irregular SSW-NNE line.^[1] The first in place was the concrete legged "Condeep" Brent Bravo in 1975, followed by the concrete legged Brent Delta, Brent Charlie, and steel-jacket Brent-A. As of 2004, the platform still produces oil through a manifold; all Brent Alpha fluids are produced across to Brent Bravo). A fifth installation, the floating Brent Spar served as a storage and tanker loading buoy and was installed early in the field's construction. The "spar" design of this installation led to the name by which it became the best known of the Brent installations (outside the oil industry). The field also included a remote flare, the "Brent Flare", which was used to flare off excess gas before gas handling and export facilities were installed in the field. This unit was decommissioned and removed using a heavy lifting barge in 2005.

The field supplies oil via the Brent System pipeline to the terminal at Sullom Voe, while gas is piped through the FLAGS pipeline ashore at St Fergus on the north east coast of Scotland.

The field underwent a massive £1.3 billion upgrade project in the mid 1990s which involved depressurising the entire reservoir and making extensive modifications to three of the four Brent platforms to convert them to low pressure operation which unlocked significant quantities of natural gas from the reservoir and extended the field life out to 2010+.^[3]