Juniper is the fifth BP Upstream major project, and second in Trinidad, to start-up in 2017.

BP Trinidad and Tobago (BPTT) today announced first gas from the Juniper development, the fifth of BP’s seven Upstream major project start-ups planned for 2017. Juniper has begun production on schedule and under budget.

The project is expected to boost BPTT’s gas production capacity by an estimated 590 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd).

With an investment of approximately US$2 billion, Juniper is BP’s first subsea field development in Trinidad. It produces gas from the Corallita and Lantana fields via the new Juniper platform, 80 kilometres (50 miles) off the south-east coast of Trinidad in water approximately 110 metres deep. The gas then flows to the Mahogany B hub via a new ten-kilometre flowline that was installed in 2016.

Bernard Looney, chief executive of BP’s Upstream business, said: “Delivered on schedule and under budget, Juniper is a major milestone in BP’s more than 50 years of investment in Trinidad and Tobago. It is the largest new project brought into production in Trinidad for several years and the second major project we have started here this year. Together they represent a significant portion of the new production capacity we expect to bring online in 2017.”

Another major project in Trinidad, the Trinidad Onshore Compression project, began operations in April. In June BPTT announced that it had sanctioned development of the Angelin gas field, which is expected to start production in late 2019. BPTT also announced two gas discoveries which may support future developments offshore Trinidad.

“The safe start-up of production from Juniper is a proud moment for BPTT, and further demonstrates our commitment to helping improve production capacity for Trinidad and Tobago,” said Norman Christie, BPTT’s regional president. “We thank the Government, our contractors and the hundreds of team members across the globe that worked to safely bring Juniper on to production.”

Juniper is BPTT’s 14th offshore platform in Trinidad and its sixth to be constructed at the fabrication yard in La Brea, Trinidad.

Key Facts

• Drilling of Juniper’s five subsea wells was completed in 2016 by the Diamond Ocean Victory semi-submersible drilling rig. 
• The engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning (EPIC) contractor on the project was TechnipFMC. 
• The Juniper platform’s topsides were fabricated at the TOFCO fabrication yard in La Brea, Trinidad.  The topsides weigh about 4,600 tonnes and are 45 metres high. 
• The platform’s jacket and piles were fabricated at Gulf Marine Fabricators in Aransas Pass, Texas, and sailed to Trinidad in December 2016. The jacket weighs roughly 4,700 tonnes and is almost 120 metres tall. 
• The jacket and topsides were installed at the Juniper offshore site in January 2017. 
• BPTT operates in 904,000 acres off Trinidad’s east coast. BPTT now has 14 offshore platforms and two onshore processing facilities.