Press Release

11/07/16
Chevron Announces First Gas at U.K. Alder Field

ABERDEEN, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2016-- Chevron North Sea Limited today announced it has started production at Alder, a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) gas condensate field in the Central North Sea.

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(Photo: Business Wire)

(Photo: Business Wire)

"First gas at Alder represents a significant milestone for Chevron and highlights our commitment to investing and developing resources in the U.K.,” said Greta Lydecker, managing director, Chevron Upstream Europe. “The safe and successful completion of this project was underpinned by strong collaboration between Chevron and Alder co-venturer ConocoPhillips. Alder supports our goal of helping maximize the economic recovery of the U.K., adds significant production to our portfolio, and helps extend the field life of Britannia, an important asset to Chevron in the North Sea.”

Andy Samuel, chief executive at The Oil and Gas Authority, said: “We are very pleased to see the safe flow of first gas from the Alder Field. Chevron’s application of innovative subsea technologies and use of the U.K.’s experienced supply chain is closely aligned to the Maximising Economic Recovery Strategy, adding reserves and extending the life of an existing asset.”

Alder is a single subsea well tied back, via a 28 kilometer pipeline, to the existing ConocoPhillips-operated Britannia Platform, in which Chevron holds a 32.38 percent non-operated working interest. The project has a planned design capacity of 110 million cubic feet of natural gas and 14,000 barrels of condensate per day. Production from the HPHT Alder Field is expected to ramp up over the coming months.

More than 70 percent of the Alder development work was executed by U.K. based companies, providing significant investment to the U.K. supply chain. The contracts supported several hundred jobs across a range of U.K. locations including Aberdeen, Invergordon, Leeds and Newcastle.

Discovered in 1975, the development has been enabled through the application of innovative subsea technologies designed to meet the temperature and pressure challenges of Alder. Key technologies have included a number of firsts for Chevron in the North Sea, including a vertical mono-bore subsea tree system; a subsea high integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS); and a specially designed corrosion monitoring system to measure the real-time condition of the production pipeline.

Chevron Upstream Europe (CUE) is a strategic business unit of Chevron’s Europe, Eurasia and Middle East (EEME) Operating Company, and is headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland. CUE manages the company’s upstream exploration and production interests in Denmark, Greenland, Norway and the United Kingdom. Chevron currently has over 800 upstream staff and contractors across its European operations, including the Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Aberdeen.

In the United Kingdom, Chevron North Sea Limited (CNSL) has working interests in 10 offshore producing fields, including three operated fields (Alba, 23.4 percent; Captain, 85 percent; and Erskine, 50 percent) and seven non-operated fields (Britannia, 32.4 percent; Brodgar, 25 percent; Callanish, 16.5 percent; Clair, 19.4 percent; Elgin/Franklin, 3.9 percent; Enochdhu, 50 percent; and Jade, 19.9 percent). CNSL’s net daily production in 2015 from these fields averaged 40,000 barrels of liquids and 115 million cubic feet of natural gas. More information about Chevron in the UK is available at www.chevronunitedkingdom.com

Notes to editors:

  • The Alder Field was discovered in 1975.
  • Alder is a high-pressure; high-temperature (HPHT) gas condensate field located around 100 miles (160 km) from the Scottish coastline in the Central North Sea, in water depths of approximately 492 feet (150 m).
  • Alder is a single subsea well tied back to the existing Britannia Bridge Linked Platform (BLP) via a 17.4 mile (28 km) production flowline.
  • Alder produced fluids are processed at a dedicated module attached to the Britannia BLP. Alder condensate will be exported via the Forties Pipeline System to Grangemouth terminal and gas exported to the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation terminal at St Fergus, near Peterhead, Scotland.
  • The project has a design capacity of 14,000 barrels of condensate and 110 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
  • Alder brings a new stream of production to Chevron and the U.K. while helping to extend the field life of Britannia.
  • More than 70 percent of Alder’s key contracts were placed with U.K. companies.
  • Technology and innovation have been key to unlocking the potential of the Alder Field.
  • Alder is operated by Chevron North Sea Limited (73.7 percent); ConocoPhillips (U.K.) Limited holds a 26.3 percent interest in the field.

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This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to Chevron’s operations that are based on management’s current expectations, estimates and projections about the petroleum, chemicals and other energy-related industries. Words or phrases such as “anticipates,” “expects,”“intends,” “plans,” “targets,” “forecasts,” “projects,” “believes,” “seeks,” “schedules,” “estimates,” “may,” “could,” “should,” “budgets,” “outlook,” “on schedule,” “on track” and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the company’s control and are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. The reader should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this report. Unless legally required, Chevron undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are: changing crude oil and natural gas prices; changing refining, marketing and chemicals margins; the company's ability to realize anticipated cost savings and expenditure reductions; actions of competitors or regulators; timing of exploration expenses; timing of crude oil liftings; the competitiveness of alternate-energy sources or product substitutes; technological developments; the results of operations and financial condition of the company's suppliers, vendors, partners and equity affiliates, particularly during extended periods of low prices for crude oil and natural gas; the inability or failure of the company’s joint-venture partners to fund their share of operations and development activities; the potential failure to achieve expected net production from existing and future crude oil and natural gas development projects; potential delays in the development, construction or start-up of planned projects; the potential disruption or interruption of the company’s operations due to war, accidents, political events, civil unrest, severe weather, cyber threats and terrorist acts, crude oil production quotas or other actions that might be imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or other natural or human causes beyond its control; changing economic, regulatory and political environments in the various countries in which the company operates; general domestic and international economic and political conditions; the potential liability for remedial actions or assessments under existing or future environmental regulations and litigation; significant operational, investment or product changes required by existing or future environmental statutes and regulations, including international agreements and national or regional legislation and regulatory measures to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions; the potential liability resulting from other pending or future litigation; the company’s future acquisition or disposition of assets and gains and losses from asset dispositions or impairments; government-mandated sales, divestitures, recapitalizations, industry-specific taxes, changes in fiscal terms or restrictions on scope of company operations; foreign currency movements compared with the U.S. dollar; material reductions in corporate liquidity and access to debt markets; the effects of changed accounting rules under generally accepted accounting principles promulgated by rule-setting bodies; the company's ability to identify and mitigate the risks and hazards inherent in operating in the global energy industry; and the factors set forth under the heading “Risk Factors” on pages 21 through 23 of the company’s 2015 Annual Report on Form 10-K. Other unpredictable or unknown factors not discussed in this report could also have material adverse effects on forward-looking statements.

Source: Chevron Corporation

Chevron
Sam Howard, +44 1224 334056 (Aberdeen)
Sam.Howard@chevron.com
or
Sally Jones, +44 560 109 1435 (London)
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