1. 1993
BP transports half the UK’s
oil and gas production
In the early 1990s, BP started up the
CATS pipeline and terminal, with capacity
to transport the equivalent of 20% of
the UK’s gas demand. The company also
invested more than £1 billion to expand
the Forties Pipeline System. Combined
with the Sullom Voe terminal, BP became
responsible for transporting around 50%
of the UK’s oil and gas production.
1998
BP becomes one of
the first oil and gas
supermajors
The 1990s were characterised
by a sustained period of
relatively low oil price, which
encouraged commercial
cooperation among operators.
BP joined with Amoco to form
BP Amoco, combining their
worldwide operations into a
single organisation. Overnight,
the company became one of
the world’s largest producers
of both oil and natural gas.
1992
BP opens up the west of
Shetland area
Exploration in the deep waters of the
Shetland Trough in the North West Atlantic
began in 1972, but it was BP who made
the first commercially viable discovery:
Foinaven. The Schiehallion field, with its
450 million barrels of oil equivalent was
discovered a year later. Today, there are
only three producing fields west of
Shetland, all operated by BP.
1997
First oil from the Region’s
first floating assets
To access the deepwater Schiehallion
field, BP introduced the world’s largest
floating, production, storage and
offloading (FPSO) vessel. Schiehallion
was a ground-breaking development
and delivered a number of firsts for
BP: our deepest field development,
our first purpose-built FPSO and our
shortest ever build cycle.
1992-1998
Miller, Andrew and ETAP
fields begin production
BP celebrated first oil from three Central
North Sea fields over six years: Miller
in 1992, Andrew in 1996 and ETAP two
years later. With nine different reservoirs
and a variety of field operators, ETAP
ranks as one of the largest and most
commercially complex North Sea oil and
gas developments of the past 20 years.
Miller, 1992
ETAP, 1998
Foinaven makes
its way west of
Shetland
CATS terminal
Sullom Voe terminal
Foinaven
Foinaven, shuttle
tanker and tug
boat off the west
coast of Shetland
Schiehallion
1990 World wide
web is invented
1994 Nelson Mandela
is elected president
of South Africa
1994 Euro tunnel
opens, connecting
Britain and France
1997 Scientists in
Scotland announce
the birth of the world’s
first successfully
cloned mammal,
Dolly the sheep
1997 Labour
ends 18 years of
Conservative rule
in Britain; Tony Blair
becomes prime
minister
WWW