In 2016 TAQA identified that continued production from the Eider platform was becoming uneconomic and instituted a wide-ranging review of options for the Eider field and its subsea tieback Otter. It was determined that the maximum economic recovery (MER) would be achieved from bypassing production from the Otter field around Eider and flowing directly to North Cormorant, with the Eider platform undergoing cessation of production (CoP) and reverting to a utility platform for power and control for Otter. As part of this process and in May 2017 a contract was entered for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) of a subsea multiphase boosting system for the Otter Field.

The Otter field is located at Block 210/15a, East of Shetland, and commenced production in 2002. The need to maximise recovery in subsea fields has driven the advancement of subsea processing technologies. This project has been executed, delivered, installed, commissioned and started up in just 16 months.

This paper will focus on the key challenges in ensuring successful integrated project execution and highlight the success factors critical to delivering a long subsea tieback boosting project. Lessons learned for a fast track EPCIC long tie-back boosting project execution model will be provided, together with challenges and lessons learned re-using existing hardware in order to minimize capital expenditure. Early operational experience will be provided, as well as key features in terms of production assurance and drawdown capabilities. The fundamental benefits of subsea boosting by enabling stable well backpressures will be provided.