Case studies

Since the Greater Kittiwake Area (GKA) asset in the UK North Sea was acquired from Shell in 2003, Petrofac has provided dedicated support to the management of this significant investment.

Demonstrating our experience and ability in delivering Duty Holder and engineering management responsibilities, as well as construction services, we have supplied and managed a wide range of work scopes and enabled sizeable production improvements for Centrica.

We have achieved major successes, resulting in an increase in production efficiency by more than 50% since 2005. This has been driven partly by modifications to the platform, including changes in the crude oil export system from tanker offloading systems to direct oil export. We have also introduced operational performance targets in order to enhance production and we work closely with Centrica to provide both operations management and offshore projects expertise.

Key facts

• we have significantly reduced maintenance backlog on the Kittiwake asset. As one of the KPIs on the contract, maintenance backlog has been reduced by 90% from an average of 1,500 hours to 200 hours. Backlog maintenance levels are now as low as they have been since the asset was taken over in 2003
• another performance milestone was reached in 2009 when Kittiwake achieved the highest annual production level in 13 years
• adding to these successes, Petrofac has continually improved both safety and asset integrity on the Kittiwake platform. The focus on Kittiwake is no different to any other asset where safety performance is managed by Petrofac and in this regard we have received positive feedback from the UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for such strong safety performance, in particular in relation to workforce involvement and major accident hazard awareness

Kittiwake's success would not have been achieved without the continual investment from Centrica in both field development and ongoing asset integrity. The contract with Centrica was extended again in 2012, demonstrating Petrofac’s strong track record and the well-built relations between the two companies. Petrofac continues its focus on delivering to Centrica increased production and cost reduction; support for further development within the GKA and development of the business model to support both companies’ continual growth.