The North Sea’s biggest oilfield is having to close for nearly a month, it has emerged.
Nexen said yesterday that production will be offline for 25 days while maintenance is carried out – triggering fresh fears for the UK economy.
Buzzard produces Forties crude, one of the largest components of the basket of crudes known as BFOE that are used as the price basis of the Brent benchmark oil price.
In previous years, longer-than-expected shutdowns at Buzzard have had a marked impact on the economy.
Extractive industries, to which North Sea oil and gas make up the vast bulk, contribute 2.4% of total UK GDP, according to the Office for National Statistics.
A prolonged closure at Buzzard in 2012 helped tip the UK back into recession in the final three months of the year.
Buzzard, situated north-east of Aberdeen, is the largest oil field by production in the North Sea and generates around 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, according to most recent data from Nexen.
At the same time as Buzzard’s upcoming planned closure, the Forties Pipeline, which is used to transport that crude to land, will be closed for maintenance for 14 days.
The company also said that the St Fergus plant, which processes Buzzard’s export gas, has a planned 28-day shutdown scheduled to begin at the end of May.
“It is possible to continue producing oil without gas export,” the statement said.
The UK economy shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of 2012, when Buzzard last closed.
It was shut in early September that year for maintenance work that was expected to take about 28 days. But Buzzard resumed production in early November, and it was not until the end of that month that full capacity was reached.
The field holds enough crude potentially to deliver about 10% of the UK’s annual forecast oil demand.