Emerson finishes BP project in the North Sea

Emerson announced 26 February that it has finished a $90 million (€73 million) automation project on BPs Glen Lyon floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel west of Shetland. BP’s goal is to produce 200,000 barrels of oil a day from the North Sea by 2020, which Emerson is supporting.

The company worked as the main automation contractor for the Glen Lyon. The facility is expected to produce 130,000 barrels per day when production plateaus. The facility is part of BP’s Quad 204 project, which included the redevelopment of the Schiehallion and Loyal fields to reach reservoirs of 450 million barrels of oil.

An additional five-year contract will see Emerson provide BP with operational support services, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance technologies for the Glen Lyon and BP’s other North Sea facility Clair Ridge, which is expected to begin operation this year.

Emerson equipment used by BP includes the DeltaV and DeltaV SIS integrated control and safety system, which help optimise production, yield and safety as well as avoid environmental damage. Emerson also provides a simulator to train BP engineers.

“By leveraging our project certainty model through expert partnering, we collaborated to achieve a truly world-class mega project that will help BP remain a North Sea energy leader,” said Mike Train, Emerson Automation Solutions executive president. “With first oil from the Glen Lyon accomplished, our focus now turns to helping BP achieve operational certainty, with maximum asset reliability and uptime, reduced risk of safety incidents and optimised production.”

BP uses Emerson fiscal metering systems for areas like accounting, custody transfer and taxation. Operators from Emerson will validate and support measurement data, sampling, analytical and test equipment, as well as plan and carry out offshore metering maintenance and verification activities. The company will also undertake auditing of BP’s North Sea operations.