UK's highest producing oil field Buzzard restarts after shutdown to prepare new development

The UK's highest producing oil field, Buzzard, is back on stream after completion of a six-week maintenance turnaround that paves the way for production from a second development phase, the operator, China's CNOOC, said June 30.

CNOOC told S&P Global Platts in an email the turnaround had been completed on the afternoon of June 29.

Buzzard is typically the largest contributor to the UK's Forties crude blend, in turn the biggest component in Platts Dated Brent benchmark, and has an impact on the quality of Forties crude, being heavier and more sulfurous than other components.

Buzzard production averaged 64,000 b/d over the first five months of the year, according to one of the field partners, Harbour Energy. However, the field was shut down on May 17 to commence the maintenance turnaround.

In production since 2007, Buzzard output has steadily declined since around 2014, averaging around 92,000 b/d in 2020, although that level partly reflected the postponement of major maintenance that had been due to prepare for the startup of the Buzzard phase 2 project.

Phase 2 entails adding a new subsea production manifold tied to the existing Buzzard complex and targets parts of the reservoir not previously addressed. Industry sources have suggested the effect will be to help stabilize, rather than dramatically increase production levels.

CNOOC postponed the Phase 2 startup partly due to a decision by Ineos to postpone its own shutdown of the Forties pipeline last year due to the pandemic, as CNOOC wanted to align its work with the Forties shutdown, which finally took place in June 2021.

The Forties pipeline came back on stream on the night of June 23-24.

CNOOC has provided no new guidance on the Phase 2 timing, although it is due on stream later this year.