Wytch Farm

Location map
Dorset
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caption="Wytch Farm shown within Dorset" (gbmapping|SY975845)

Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in western Europe. The facility, operated by BP, is hidden in a coniferous forest on Wytch Heath on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, two miles (3 km) north of Corfe Castle. Oil and gas are exported by pipeline.

History

The field was discovered by the nationalised British Gas Corporation in December 1973 and began producing oil in 1979. As part of the privatisation of British Gas in the 1980s Wytch Farm was sold to BP which took over as operator in 1984.cite web |url=http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/STAGING/global_assets/downloads/U/uk_asset_wytch_farm.pdf|title=BP Asset Portfolio: Wytch Farm|publisher=BP plc|accessdate=2008-03-04]

Geology

The field is located in a faulted block of Jurassic and older rocks beneath the Hampshire Basin, close to the steeply sloping monocline in the overlying chalk that defines its southern limit. The field consists of three separate reservoirs known as Bridport, Sherwood and Frome. Bridport, the first discovery, is in the Jurassic Bridport Sands convert|900|m|ft below Poole Harbour, with an oil source in the Lower Lias. The much larger Sherwood (discovered 1978) is below this in the Triassic Sherwood Sands at convert|1600|m|ft and extends under Poole Bay. Frome is in a shelly limestone at convert|750|m|ft. The field extends eastwards from Sandbanks and Studland for around convert|10|km|mi under the sea to the south of Bournemouth.Andrews I.J & Balson P.S. (1995), "Wight: Sheet 50N 02W Solid Geology", 1:250,000 Geological map series, Keyworth: British Geological Survey, ISBN 0-75183088-5.]

Environment

Most of the field is protected by various conservation laws, including the Jurassic Coast world heritage site, Purbeck Heritage Coast and a number of sites of special scientific interest, areas of outstanding natural beauty and nature reserves (including Studland and Brownsea Island), so the gathering centre and most of the well sites are small and well screened by trees. Directional drilling has also contributed to reducing the impact on the local environment, with extended reach drilling from the Goathorm Peninsula attaining distances in excess of 10 km.

Production and reserves

Production grew from 4000 to convert|6000|oilbbl/d|m3/d (bpd) by 1984 [House, M.R. (1993) "Geology of The Dorset Coast", The Geologists' Association, ISBN 0-900717-58-0.] and eventually peaked at convert|110000|oilbbl/d|m3/d|abbr=on in 1997; by 2002 this had declined to convert|50000|oilbbl/d|m3/d|abbr=on. In 2002 it was estimated that the field contained reserves of 65.40 million tonnes of oil (479.6 million barrels), 4.73 million tonnes of natural gas liquids and 1.42 billion cubic metres of natural gasweb cite|url=http://www.og.dti.gov.uk/information/bb_updates/appendices/fields/wytchfrm.htm |publisher=Department of Trade and Industry |title=Wytch Farm factsheet|date=2002|accessdate=2008-03-04] that will last until 2020 and 2025 respectively.

Oil is also transported to Wytch Farm for processing from two smaller Dorset oilfields, Wareham (discovered in 1964) by pipeline and Kimmeridge (discovered in 1959) by road.web cite|url=http://www.bpnsi.com/index.asp?id=7369643D312669643D313531|accessdate=2008-03-04|title=Wytch Farm|publisher=BP plc]

Oil is piped about convert|91|km|mi from Wytch Farm via Fawley to a terminal on the far side of Southampton Water at Hamble, for export by tanker. Gas is liquified and transported by rail and road.web cite|url=http://www.bpnsi.com/index.asp?id=7369643D312669643D313531|accessdate=2008-03-04|title=Wytch Farm|publisher=BP plc] Natural Gas is also piped to Christchurch for use in the domestic gas supply network.

ee also

*Energy policy of the United Kingdom
*Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom

References