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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Travis_Bickle who wrote (118498)	4/25/2008 10:33:47 AM
From: DebtBomb	Respond to of 306849

Got oil? Dozens of oil fields 'face shutdown' The closure of the Forties pipeline would lead to the complete shutdown of production in about 65 North Sea oil fields, an expert has warned. Professor Alex Kemp, an oil economist at Aberdeen University, said the shutdown would have a "major" impact on the economy. The 240 miles of pipeline carry crude oil and gas from the North Sea to Grangemouth for processing. It could close if strike action at Grangemouth oil refinery goes ahead. Crude oil flows through the pipeline from offshore platforms to the Kinneil processing terminal at Grangemouth, where it is stabilised. We are talking about 700,000 barrels a day, which is a very high proportion of the total UK production Professor Alex Kemp The processing procedure is completely dependent on power and steam produced by the nearby Grangemouth oil refinery. BP, which owns the pipeline, has said that it would shut when power from the refinery runs out ahead of Sunday's planned 48-hour strike by 1,200 members of the Unite union. Estimates have put the possible loss of revenue from the pipeline's closure at about £50m a day, split equally between oil firms and the UK Treasury. Professor Kemp told the BBC Scotland news website that the Forties system brought about 40% of the UK's total oil production ashore. 'Major loss' He said: "The Forties pipeline is a major system which takes oil and gas from about 65 fields in the central North Sea. "It has to go to Kinneil so it can be stabilised into the proper condition to be exported. The processing procedure requires steam and power from the refinery. "We are talking about 700,000 barrels a day, which is a very high proportion of the total UK production. FORTIES OIL PIPELINE The Forties pipeline system (FPS) carries crude oil from the Forties oil fields in the North Sea After making landfall at Cruden Bay the oil travels to the Kinneil terminal at Grangemouth At Kinneil it is stabilised and gas processing takes place The Kinneil terminal uses electricity and steam from the nearby Grangemouth refinery to operate "When you consider that the price of a barrel of oil is currently about $110 you can see that it will be a major loss of revenue." Professor Kemp said production would need to stop completely on all of the fields served by the pipeline as there was nowhere else for the oil and gas to go. He added that it could take some time for oil to start flowing again even after the strike ended and refinery employees returned to work. He added: "Although some platforms may have limited storage space it will be nothing like on the scale required for production to continue while the pipe is out of action. "Each of these fields will have to put their own shutdown procedures in place, and it will take a little while for them to start up again. "Hopefully that wouldn't be very long, but with the logistics of having to start up 65 fields it could be at least 24 hours." The 36in diameter Forties sub sea pipeline extends from the Forties Charlie platform to Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire. From there, it travels over land to the Kinneil terminal via four pumping stations at Cruden Bay, Netherley, Brechin and Balbeggie which provide booster compression. A buried landline running 20 miles from the ExxonMobil SAGE and Total St Fergus gas processing facilities carries natural gas liquids that join the Forties landline at Cruden Bay. news.bbc.co.uk