BP and its partners have commenced oil production from the redeveloped Schiehallion Area, after completing the Quad 204 project in the west of Shetland region, offshore UK.

The first oil has been produced from the Quad 204 project which has been completed in six years time ever since it was sanctioned in 2011.

More than £2bn worth contracts had been awarded to UK companies for the project located west of Shetland region.

Shell and Siccar Point Energy are partners of BP in the Quad 204 project with stakes of 54% and 10% respectively. BP holds the remainder 36% stake and is also the operator of the project.

BP Group CEO Bob Dudley said: “The start of production from Quad 204 – one of the largest recent investments in the UK – is an important milestone for BP, marking a return to growth for our North Sea business.

“As one of the series of important, higher-margin major projects that are now steadily coming on line for BP, it also underpins our expectation for growing production and cash flows from our Upstream business over the coming few years.”

First developed in the mid-1990s, the Schiehallion and the nearby Loyal fields had a combined production of around 400 million barrels of oil since their first production in 1998. Through the Quad 204 project, the fields have been redeveloped with the partners hoping to tap into a further estimated 450 million barrels of resources.

The project is also believed to help in expanding the life of the fields to ensure that they continue to produce oil up to 2035 and beyond.

Production from the Quad 204 project is likely to ramp up in the rest of the year to a stable level of 130,000 barrels of oil per day.

Glen Lyon, which is touted to be world’s largest harsh water floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, had been deployed for the project.

Quad 204 is among the seven major upstream projects that BP has lined up to come online this year. It follows the earlier start-ups of the Trinidad onshore compression project and the Taurus/Libra development of Egypt’s West Nile Delta project.

Image: The Glen Lyon FPSO. Photo: courtesy of BP 2017.