North Sea oil and gas
bp has been operating in the North Sea for 60 years, providing a reliable source of energy to consumers around the world. It remains an important region for bp – we know the basin and the barrels well having been here from the very start.
Today, we continue to provide energy through a portfolio of five key production hubs in the central North Sea and west of Shetland.
Our plans in the North Sea will see us continue to focus around our existing production facilities to produce oil and gas safely, reliably and competitively.
Across our portfolio, we continue to look for ways to lower emissions. In 2024, our North Sea operational emissions were 29% lower than in 2019.
Clair Phase One
With an estimated seven billion barrels of oil in place, the Clair field is the largest oilfield on the UK Continental Shelf. The field, located 75 kilometres west of Shetland, was discovered in 1977, but challenging reservoir characteristics and the technological limits of the time meant it was the mid-1990s before the field saw extensive drilling, and 2001 before bp and co-venturers approved a development plan. Production from the Clair field began in 2005 through the Clair Phase One platform, which was the first fixed platform west of Shetland.
Clair Ridge
The size of the Clair field dictates development via a phased approach. Clair Ridge is the second phase of development. The bridge-linked platforms, which delivered first oil in November 2018, are designed to recover an estimated 640 million barrels of oil. bp and co-venturers are considering options to unlock future energy potential from the Clair field through a third phase of development.
Glen Lyon
The Schiehallion Area incorporates the Schiehallion, Loyal and Alligin fields located around 175 kilometres west of the Shetland Islands.
The fields are developed through the Glen Lyon floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Production from the Schiehallion Area was shut-in between 2013 and 2017 to allow for the Quad 204 project – a multi-billion-pound investment by bp and co-venturers to completely redevelop the hub and maximize production from the fields.
Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP)
ETAP, in the central North Sea, ranks as one of the largest and most commercially complex oil and gas developments in the North Sea. It has multiple fields with varying ownership sharing a central processing facility (CPF). bp operates all the ETAP fields; Machar, Madoes, Mirren, Monan, Marnock, Mungo, which started production in the 1990s.
More recently, the bp-operated Seagull and Murlach developments have been tied-back to the ETAP CPF. Seagull began production in 2023 and Murlach in 2025. A normally unattended installation (NUI) over Mungo stands around 20 kilometres east of the ETAP CPF.
Apart from Mungo, which has surface wellheads on the NUI, all other ETAP fields are connected to the CPF via subsea infrastructure.
Andrew
The Andrew area includes the Andrew, Arundel, Cyrus, Farragon and Kinnoull fields, which all produce through the Andrew platform in the central North Sea. Production started in 1994. As the Andrew platform approaches cessation of production, bp is operating the facility under a late-life business model that seeks to ensure safe and reliable operations through the facility’s final years.
Non-operated interests
bp holds a non-operated interest in the Ithaca Energy Vorlich field, in the central North Sea.
