Wytch Farm

Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in Western Europe.[1] The facility, taken over by Perenco in 2011, was previously operated by BP. It is located in a coniferous forest on Wytch Heath on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, two miles (3.2 km) north of Corfe Castle. Oil and natural gas (methane) are both exported by pipeline; liquefied petroleum gas is exported by road tanker.

History

Name

The oil field takes its name from the neighbouring Wytch Farm which had existed on the site for many centuries on the fringes of Wytch Heath.[2]

Pre-1973

Production and reserves

Production grew from 4000 to 6000 oilbbl/d in 1984[18] and eventually peaked at 110000 oilbbl/d in 1997; by 2002 this had declined to 50000 oilbbl/d.[8] In 2002 it was estimated that the field contained reserves of 65.40 million tonnes of oil (479.6 million barrels), 4.73 million tonnes of natural gas liquids and 1.42 e9m3 of natural gas[19] that will last until 2020 and 2025 respectively.

Oil is also transported to Wytch Farm for processing from two smaller Dorset oilfields, Wareham (discovered in 1964) by pipeline and Kimmeridge Oil Field (discovered in 1959) by road.[20]

Oil is piped about 91 km from Wytch Farm via Fawley to a terminal on the far side of Southampton Water at Hamble, for export by tanker. Natural Gas (methane) is piped to Sopley, north of Christchurch, for use in the national domestic gas supply network. Smaller quantities of liquefied petroleum gas are transported by road.[20] A rail terminal at Furzebrook connecting to the Swanage Railway between Corfe Castle and Wareham is now closed and mothballed.

Production process plant

The well fluids from the field and the remote well sites are combined at the gathering station.[21] Oil is routed to the first stage separator where initial separation of the well fluids into its component parts takes place. Produced water settles to the bottom of the horizontal separator vessel, oil floats on the water layer and gas (vapour) occupies the top of the vessel. These three fluids are withdrawn continuously from the vessel to downstream plant.

Oil flows to further separators operating at lower pressures, where further vapour and produced water are separated and removed. The oil then passes to a desalter to reduce the salt content. Fresh water is added to the oil and the oil-water mixture which is allowed to settle. The salt dissolves preferentially in the water phase reducing the salt content of the oil. Treated oil is cooled and stored in tanks before finally being pumped through the 16-inch (0.4 m) pipeline to the storage and loading facility at Hamble.[22]

The vapour from the separators is cooled, compressed and dehydrated by counter-current contact with glycol. It is chilled by refrigeration and routed to a series of fractionation towers.[23]

location map	Dorset
location map text	Location of the Wytch Farm oil field in Dorset
relief	yes
coordinates	50.66017°N, -2.03673°W
country	England
location	Dorset
operator	Perenco
discovery	1973
start production	1979
peak of production oil bbl/d	110000
oil production bbl/d	13500
production year oil	2019
est oil t	65.40
est gas bcm	1.42

History

Name

Pre-1973

1973 to date

2023 oil spill

Geology

Environment

Production and reserves

Production process plant

See also

External links

References

Oil specification