One of the North Sea’s most iconic oil fields has produced its last barrel of oil.
CNR International announced last night that it had permanently ceased production from its Murchison field.
The landmark moment – which came at lunchtime yesterday – heralds the end of a platform considered a giant of the global energy sector.
Its jacket and topsides are among the largest in the UK Continental Shelf, and the field has played a key role in the success of the North Sea over the last 30 years.
CNRI’s vice-president of production operations, Dave Whitehouse, said: “Cessation of production is a major development, not only for CNRI but for the whole North Sea sector, as the platform has been instrumental in the outstanding success achieved by the industry over the last three decades.
“On a more personal level, many workers will have fond memories of time spent on the Murchison, with the platform widely known for its working atmosphere and the tremendous camaraderie that exists amongst staff on board.
“We will now move forward with delivering our decommissioning programme, which will see the platform fully dismantled and removed from the North Sea within five years.”
The field, discovered in July 1975, lies north-east of Shetland. It was producing 150,383 barrels a day at its peak in 1982.
Over its life, the Murchison field has produced about 400million barrels.
CNRI became operator of Murchison in 2002, implementing an intensive and comprehensive programme of asset-integrity management, reservoir management, well repair and infill drilling.
This allowed the company to extend the life of the field by 10 years, delivering in excess of 22million barrels during this period.
With production now permanently closed, CNRI will progress an innovative decommissioning programme for the installation that will be completed by 2019.
The announcement comes just days after the firm’s managing director – James Edens – attacked the tax regime in the North Sea.
However, the closure of the Murchison field is not related.