Forties pipeline system | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | United Kingdom |
General direction | east–west |
From | Forties Charlie platform |
Passes through | North Sea |
To | Cruden Bay |
General information | |
Type | crude oil |
Operator | BP |
Technical information | |
Length | 169 km (105 mi) |
Maximum discharge | 0.7 million barrels per day (~3.5×10 7 t/a) |
Diameter | 36 in (914 mm) |
The Forties pipeline system (FPS) is a pre-eminent pipeline network in the North Sea carrying 30% of the UK's oil, or about 700 thousand barrels per day (110×10 3 m3/d) of oil a day, to shore. It is owned and operated by UK-based global energy company BP, who retained the asset after selling the Forties oilfield to Apache Corp. in 2003. BP reached an agreement in April 2017 to sell the network to Ineos. Fifty assets tie BP's export lines into the FPS either directly or through intermediate hubs, eventually joining at either Forties Charlie or Forties Unity.
FPS consists of a 36-inch (910 mm) pipeline originating at Apache Corp.'s Forties Charlie platform. The pipeline carries crude oil 169 kilometres (105 mi), routing through the Forties Unity riser platform, to the terminal at Cruden Bay. From there, unstabilised crude is carried to the processing facility at Kinneil, Grangemouth.