Engineering news
The final section of the first North Sea oil platform custom-built in the UK for 25 years was towed offshore last night, amid warnings from the firm that produced it that oil and gas fabrication work is being lost to South Korea and the Middle East.
The Forties Alpha Satellite Platform, built at OGN's Hadrian Yard at Wallsend, North Tyneside, cost more than £400 million, creating 2,000 direct jobs and thousands more throughout the supply chain.
The platform, commissioned by US oil company the Apache Corporation, is expected to start pumping oil in autumn this year and has the capacity to produce up to 25,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
However, according to OGN, over the past three years major oil and gas contracts for the UK Continental Shelf to the value of more than £10 billion have been awarded outside the UK, equating to over 10,000 jobs. OGN was established four years ago when it acquired Hadrian Yard in Wallsend and invested £25 million in the region.
Dennis Clark, chairman of OGN, said: “This is a great testimony to the manufacturing capabilities and skills of the oil and gas supply chain in the North East and to Apache's commitment to building locally within the UK.
“It also shows that the North East region's track record of engineering and fabrication could have a bright future at the heart of a thriving offshore energy sector.”
Decommissioning of the Forties Field had been due to commence in 2013 but the life of the field has been extended by another 20 years. The Forties Field was the first of the UK’s large oil fields, discovered in 1970 and officially inaugurated by The Queen in 1975.
Clark added: “I’m proud that Apache is installing this new platform at the same time production from Forties was originally scheduled to scale down. Production in the Forties Field is currently running at an average of 57,000 bpd of oil, five times higher than the outlook of 10 years ago.”
