Image source: BP

Earlier this year BP celebrated half a century of North Sea operations by projecting images of the Forties oil platform on to a screen in the British Museum reading room.

The Forties field was the company’s first major oil discovery and was more than a revolution for BP. Speaking at the museum, the company’s current chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, said it was “a turning point for the UK and so it was for the future of BP”.

BP discovered gas in the North Sea in 1964, but it was not until 1970 that it could announce that its semi-submersible drilling rig, Sea Quest, had found signs of hydrocarbons more than 3,000 metres below the seabed around 110 miles from Aberdeen.

Forties is currently operated by Apache North Sea which holds 97.14% interest in the field. Other stakeholders in the field include Esso Exploration and Production UK (2.61%) and Shell UK (0.25%).

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