Drilling has started on the Loyal field in the North Sea as part of a seven-year campaign in the west of Shetland.
BP is serving as the operator at the Loyal field on behalf of its partners Royal Dutch Shell and OMV.
Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Aberdeen semi-submersible rig had been contracted to drill wells across the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, as part of the Quad204 development.
The rig will initially drill two producer wells and one injector well on Loyal. It will then be moved to Schiehallion field.
A total of five wells are proposed to be drilled before first oil from the new Glen Lyon floating, production, storage and offload vessel at the end of 2016.
BP North Sea business regional president Trevor Garlick said: "This marks an exciting and important milestone for both the Quad 204 project and our wider North Sea business.
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By GlobalData"The drilling campaign not only demonstrates our commitment to the region in what is a challenging time, but will also help maximise production from Schiehallion and Loyal, contributing to the long term competitiveness of BP’s North Sea business."
Schiehallion and Loyal have already produced about 400 millions barrels of oil since start-up in 1998.
In July 2011, BP and its partners unveiled plans to invest around £3bn in the redevelopment of the fields, extending production past 2035. The Quad 204 development intends to access the remaining estimated 450 million barrels of resource.
Production is anticipated to commence in early 2017, with new subsea pipelines planned to be installed later this year.
Image: Odfjell Drilling’s Deepsea Aberdeen semi-submersible rig is being used to drill wells across the Schiehallion and Loyal fields. Photo: courtesy of BP.