The Piper oilfield is a substantial
North Sea oilfield covering 30.1 km
2 (11½ sq. mi.). It lies roughly halfway between
Aberdeen and
Bergen, at the eastern end of the
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...
basin.
[Maher, C.E., Piper Oil Field, in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade:1968-1978, AAPG Memoir 30, Halbouty, M.T., editor, Tulsa:American Association of Petroleum Geologists, , pp. 131-133] Oil extracted from it is piped to
Scotland, where it is stabilised at an oil plant on the island of
Flotta, in the
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
archipelago, while gas is shipped via the Frigg gas pipeline.
In June 1975, the ''
Piper Alpha''
oil platform
An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...
was placed over the field in 144 metres (79 fathoms) of water, secured in place by 24
piles
Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''hemo ...
extending 116 metres (63 fathoms) beneath the seabed. The platform was designed for simultaneous drilling and production.
was the site of one of the world's worst oil platform disasters when it was destroyed by an explosion in 1988, with the loss of 167 lives.
Piper Bravo was installed in 1992.
Talisman Energy acquired a controlling interest in 2000.
Occidental Petroleum Corp., Getty Oil (Britain) Ltd., Thomson North Sea Ltd., and Allied Chemical (North Sea) Ltd.,
that later transformed into the OPCAL joint venture, obtained an oil exploration licence in 1972 and discovered the Piper oilfield in early 1973 after
seismically mapping the area.
Oil production started in 1976 with about increasing to . A gas recovery module was installed by 1980. Production declined to by 1988. OPCAL built the
Flotta oil terminal
An oil terminal (also called a tank farm, tankfarm, oil installation or oil depot) is an industrial facility for the storage of oil, petroleum and petrochemical
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obt ...
in the
Orkney Islands
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
to receive and process oil from the Piper, Claymore and Tartan fields, each with its own platform. A diameter main oil pipeline ran from ''Piper Alpha'' to Flotta, with a short oil pipeline from the Claymore platform joining it some to the west. The Tartan field also fed oil to Claymore and then onto the main line to Flotta. Separate 46 cm (18") diameter gas pipelines run from Piper to the Tartan platform, and from Piper to the gas compressing platform MCP-01 some to the northwest.
Geology
The field consists of three folded, tilted
blocks on the northern edge of the Witch Ground
Graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
.
Production is from the
Upper Jurassic
The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987.
In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
Piper Sandstone
Piper may refer to:
People
* Piper (given name)
* Piper (surname)
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics
* Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe
* Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe
Television
* Piper Chapman, lea ...
, a sandstone shelf with a thickness up to 142 metres (465') and
Oil-water contact ranging in depths from 2195 to 2804 metres (7201' to 9200') under the sea.
Piper oil most likely originated in the
Kimmeridge Shale
Kimmeridge () is a small village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England. It is situated about south of Wareham and west of Swanage. In 2013 the estimated population of the civ ...
.
[Maher, C.E., Piper Oil Field, in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade:1968-1978, AAPG Memoir 30, Halbouty, M.T., editor, Tulsa:American Association of Petroleum Geologists, , p. 159]
See also
*
Energy policy of the United Kingdom
The energy policy of the United Kingdom refers to the United Kingdom's efforts towards reducing energy intensity, reducing energy poverty, and maintaining energy supply reliability. The United Kingdom has had success in this, though energy int ...
*
Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
References
{{Reflist
External links
Piper Alpha: Lessons Learnt, 2008Talisman's Piper 'B' Platform
North Sea oil fields
Oil fields of Scotland