BP taps Emerson for Clair Ridge project
14 Jun 2012
Dusseldorf, Germany – BP has awarded Emerson Process Management a $23-million contract to supply integrated control and safety systems for two new bridge-linked platforms for the Clair Ridge project in the North Sea to the west of the Shetland Islands, UK. The project is being developed by BP and its co-venturers ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Shell.
BP has described Clair Ridge as its most significant current project on the UK continental shelf. The two new platforms are scheduled to be installed in 2015 with production expected to begin in 2016. The new development will have potential peak production of up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day.
The Clair Ridge project is one of four new oil and gas projects being developed by BP and its co-venturers. These BP projects involve a total investment of almost £10 billion in the UK’s oil industry over the next five years and will help to maintain BP’s production from the North Sea for decades to come.
Emerson is to provide automation technology and serve as the project’s main automation contractor (MAC) under its global agreement with BP. As MAC, Emerson will conduct FEED work for the integrated control and safety system, as well as other services that include automation engineering, installation, acceptance testing, commissioning, configuration, and start-up support.
Emerson will deploy its PlantWeb digital plant architecture, including its DeltaV digital automation system, DeltaV SIS process safety system, and AMS Suite predictive maintenance software. These digital automation technologies will support BP’s Field of the Future programme for enhancing operating efficiency and oil recovery.
The DeltaV digital automation system will control and monitor platform operations using FOUNDATION fieldbus and Emerson’s Smart Wireless communication technologies. The DeltaV SIS system will perform process and emergency shutdown functions, if needed, plus fire and gas detection to enable secure control of oil production on the platform.
Emerson said it will also provide a high fidelity process model, an operator training system, and on-going support for the automation system.
The integrated control and safety systems will have embedded device management capabilities provided by AMS Suite to enable remote management and diagnostics of valves and instruments from an onshore location. The software’s asset performance capabilities can also give managers a unified interface to assess asset health and criticality, optimise maintenance expenditure, and view key performance indicators.
Wellhead monitoring and control functions will employ Emerson’s Smart Wireless technology on the offshore platforms. A separate wireless plant network will support applications such as mobile workers and video streaming for flame detection.
BP has also awarded Emerson additional contracts to supply its Micro Motion Coriolis mass flowmeters; Rosemount pressure, temperature, radar level, and vortex flow transmitters; Fisher control valves and regulators; Rosemount Analytical gas chromatographs; and Roxar Watercut meters.
