Installation of the Alder Subsea Isolation Valve (Britannia platform in background) (photo: Business Wire)

Chevron North Sea Limited has announced it has started production at Alder, a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) gas condensate field in the Central North Sea.

“First gas at Alder represents a significant milestone for Chevron and highlights our commitment to investing and developing resources in the UK,” says Greta Lydecker, managing director, Chevron Upstream Europe. “The safe and successful completion of this project was underpinned by strong collaboration between Chevron and Alder co-venturer ConocoPhillips. Alder supports our goal of helping maximise the economic recovery of the UK, adds significant production to our portfolio, and helps extend the field life of Britannia, an important asset to Chevron in the North Sea.”

Andy Samuel, chief executive at The Oil and Gas Authority, says, “We are very pleased to see the safe flow of first gas from the Alder Field. Chevron’s application of innovative subsea technologies and use of the UK’s experienced supply chain is closely aligned to the Maximising Economic Recovery Strategy, adding reserves and extending the life of an existing asset.”

Alder is a single subsea well tied back, via a 28 kilometer pipeline, to the existing ConocoPhillips-operated Britannia Platform, in which Chevron holds a 32.38% non-operated working interest. The project has a planned design capacity of 110 million cubic feet of natural gas and 14,000 barrels of condensate per day. Production from the HPHT Alder Field is expected to ramp up over the coming months.

More than 70% of the Alder development work was executed by UK based companies, providing significant investment to the UK supply chain. The contracts supported several hundred jobs across a range of UK locations including Aberdeen, Invergordon, Leeds and Newcastle.

Discovered in 1975, the development has been enabled through the application of innovative subsea technologies designed to meet the temperature and pressure challenges of Alder. Key technologies have included a number of firsts for Chevron in the North Sea, including a vertical mono-bore subsea tree system; a subsea high integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS); and a specially designed corrosion monitoring system to measure the real-time condition of the production pipeline.

Tags: Chevron