Nexen announces full sanction of Buzzard Phase II project, offshore UK

CALGARY -- Nexen has announced that the BPII (Buzzard Phase II) project has received full sanction from partners (Suncor Energy UK Limited, Chrysaor Limited, Dyas EOG Limited and Oranje-Nassau Energie Resources Limited) and the Field Development Plan has been approved by the UK Oil and Gas Authority – allowing the project to move into the execute stage. The define stage, which included the front-end engineering design of the development, was successfully completed in June.

BPII is using an integrated project team, comprised of Nexen Petroleum UK Limited and supply chain partners AGR Well Management Limited, Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE), COSL Drilling Europe AS, Subsea 7 Limited and WorleyParsons Services UK Limited. This team is working together based on an incentivised, outcome-based commercial model and is on-site at Nexen’s Aberdeen office.

Located about 96 km northeast of Aberdeen in approximately 96 m of water, the Nexen-operated Buzzard platform is the largest UK North Sea oil discovery in the past two decades. BPII is a subsea development of the Buzzard northern area. The objective of this project is to safely develop additional reserves and bring new production on stream, supporting the goal of maximizing economic recovery in the North Sea.

The selected concept is a subsea development of the Buzzard northern area, approx. 5km NE of Buzzard consisting of a 12-slot manifold (eight production slots and four water injection). The development will be tied back to the existing Buzzard complex with a pipeline bundle assembly incorporating pipelines, manifolds, subsea controls and chemical injection. A brownfield module is to be installed on the production platform for processing and export via current export pipeline routes.

A significant amount of this work is being executed by UK-based companies, providing investment to the local UK supply chain and supporting jobs across a range of UK locations.

First oil is expected during first-quarter 2021.