Culzean is a gas condensate field located in the North Sea, 230 kilometers off the coast of Aberdeen. It was discovered in 2008 in an area that had been left unexplored for a long time. The field is made up of two deep reservoirs, with reserves estimated at between 250 million and 300 million barrels of oil equivalent, making it the largest gas project developed in the United Kingdom in the last 25 years.

THE LARGEST NORTH SEA GAS PROJECT IN A QUARTER OF A CENTURY 

Culzean is a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) gas condensate field located in Block 22/25a in the East Central Graben area of the central North Sea. It is made up of two deep reservoirs 4,300 meters below sea level, with reserves estimated at between 250 million and 300 million barrels of oil equivalent. Production started in June 2019 and should meet 5% of the United Kingdom’s gas demand, bringing to 18% the proportion of the country’s gas demand supplied by Total. The depth and size of the reservoirs require a unique approach to production. For this reason, the Culzean project will have three platforms, linked together with bridges.

The first platform will be used for drilling and hydrocarbon production, the second for processing and export of produced gas and condensate, and the last for the crew’s living quarters. The project will also include a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel measuring 52 meters at its highest point and 243 meters in length – the equivalent of three Airbus A380s, the biggest airplane in the world. Called the Ailsa, the FSO can store up to 430,000 barrels of oil equivalent of condensate.