Raven takes flight: third stage of West Nile Delta development
bp has announced gas production from Raven field, the third stage of its major West Nile Delta (WND) development off the Mediterranean coast in Egypt. In this picture special, we take a look at some of the facts and figures behind this major project
Construction of the new Raven plant under way in 2018
Crane event
A new onshore processing facility was built to receive gas from the Raven field. Raven is the third stage of the $9 billion West Nile Delta development. Raven follows the Taurus/Libra and Giza/Fayoum projects, which started production in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Seven Borealis pipelay vessel
Offshore operations
Ten construction vessels were used in the execution of the Giza/Fayoum/Raven subsea scope. This image shows Subsea 7’s Seven Borealis pipelay vessel, which installed the main flowlines from the subsea field back to the onshore facility approximately 65 kilometres away.
The firing line of the Seven Borealis
Pipe and ready
On board the Seven Borealis, the individual pipes were welded together across various stages, making the flowline that was deployed from the back of the vessel.
💡 Why it matters
Over almost 60 years, bp has invested more than $35 billion in Egypt, and it’s one of the biggest businesses in the company’s global portfolio.
Natural gas will continue to play a central role in bp’s strategy as we pursue our net zero ambition. Resilient and focused hydrocarbons will help to provide the cashflow needed to help fund bp’s transition to an integrated energy company.
Raven supports our strategy to focus on oil and gas resources from the basins we know best, which we can develop rapidly and at low cost, and gives us valuable options to develop future infill and exploration opportunities nearby.
The semi-submersible moon rig pool
Licence to drill
Offshore drilling in operation on the Seven Borealis. Approximately 2.5 million hours were executed offshore, involving more than 1,000 people on an average day. The subsea scope of the project was completed in 2019.
The WND workforce includes a large number of local women
Committed workforce
More than 7,500 Egyptians worked in the WND at the peak of construction. In all, the project took around 45 million manhours. The team delivered it safely, despite working through an extremely challenging period last year due to COVID restrictions.
About West Nile Delta
The approximately $9 billion WND development includes five gas fields across the North Alexandria and West Mediterranean deepwater offshore concession blocks in the Mediterranean Sea.
In total, the WND development includes 25 wells producing gas to the onshore processing plant via three long-distance subsea tiebacks. The onshore facilities – including the new Raven facility – now have a total gas processing capacity of around 1.4 bcf/d. All gas produced is fed into Egypt’s national grid.
The WND development is projected to be the second biggest project (production wise) in Egypt after the massive Zohr development.
The completed Raven plant
Feat of engineering
The completed Raven plant includes 14,500 tons of steel structure – that’s around one-and-a-half times the weight of the Eiffel Tower. The field is currently producing approximately 600 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMscf/d). At its peak, it has the potential to produce 900 million MMscf/d and 30,000 barrels per day of condensate (bbl/d).
Operators on the Raven plant site in June 2020
Low-emissions benchmark
Raven has achieved a 56% reduction in emissions during completions compared to the Giza/Fayoum and Taurus/Libra stages of the WND project. Thanks to a novel approach to running production logs while ramping up wells and optimizing sand management, they were able to halve flaring time and cut emissions while maintaining the well’s sand control integrity. This has set a new low-emissions benchmark for bp.
A training workshop on the Raven site, which took place pre-COVID restrictions in March 2019
Training days
bp has invested around $10 million in sustainable community development projects, including establishing a microfinance scheme that provides interest-free loans for business start-ups and using the facilities adjacent to the bp site to offer training in fields such as health and safety practices, welding and electrical skills.
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