The Davy, Bessemer, Beaufort, Brown and Boyle gas fields are natural gas reservoirs and gas production facilities in two locations in the southern North Sea. The fields produced natural gas from 1995.
History The Davy gas field was discovered as early as 1970 but there was limited local infrastructure to transport gas to shore. The Bessemer and Beaufort fields were discovered in 1989 and 1991 by wells 49/23-5 and 49/23-7 respectively. The improved production technology in the late 1980s made the development of the fields viable. Technology included horizontal wells and minimum topsides facilities. Gas from the fields was routed to Indefatigable 49/23AT for compression.
The gas fields The Davy, Bessemer, Beaufort, Brown and Boyle gas fields are located in the UK Offshore Blocks 49/30 and 53/05. The fields were initially developed by Amoco, which merged with BP in 1998. Perenco assumed ownership in 2003 and were responsible for later developments. The fields are named after British and Irish scientists, engineers and inventors: namely Humphry Davy, Henry Bessemer, Francis Beaufort, Charles Brown and Robert Boyle.
The characteristics of the gas reservoirs and the production facilities are summarised in the table. InstallationDavyDavy NorthDavy EastBessemerBeaufortBoyleBrownUK Offshore Block49/30 53/5a49/30a53/5b49/23e49/2349/3049/30Coordinates53.051969°N 3.011500°E53.096661°N 2.843161°E52.983394°N 2.974469°E53.331961°N 2.508322°EGas reservoirRotliegend variable isopachRotliegend Leman sandstoneAs DavyField discovered19701989199119891998Gas in place, billion cubic feet1649030Installation typeMonotowerSubsea wellheadSubsea wellheadMonotowerWellheadWellheadWellheadWater depth, metres343441282934Substructure weight, tonnes794780–––Topsides weight, tonnes513––481–––No. of Wells41131 - drilled from BessemerFrom DavyFrom DavyGas export toInde 49/23ATDavyDavyInde 49/23AT–DavyDavyExport pipeline length, diameter42.37 km, 16-inch10.31 km, 8-inch5.71 km, 6-inch15.59 km, 16-inch–––Pipeline numberPL1053PL1871PL2344PL1055–––Start of production1995200120071995199620022001Peak flow, million cubic metres/y930931,2041456118Year of peak flow199620072000200120032001Cumulative production to end of 2014, million cubic metres5,8102805,41011,758324
Gas production Bessemer also receives gas from the N.W, Bell wellhead (49/23) via a 9.45 km, 6-inch pipeline.
The Davy and Bessemer installations export gas to the Indefatigable 49/23AT platform which has reception facilities for the 16-inch pipelines from Davy and Bessemer. After processing the gas is routed, along with Inde gas, to the Bacton gas terminal.
Production from Davy North and Beaufort has ceased.
See also
Indefatigable gas field Bacton gas terminal List of oil and gas fields of the North Sea
References