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LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - The North Sea's FortiesPipeline System (FPS) is expected to shut for five days fromAug. 1, rather than a full two weeks as originally planned, BP said.
In an update to the FPS maintenance table on its website, BPsaid it was planning a potential full system shutdown for CrudenBay integrity pipework repairs for five days, although addedthat this was still to be confirmed.
Cruden Bay, on the Scottish coast, is where Forties crudeoil comes ashore. A pipeline system shutdown normally requires ashutdown of the oilfields that feed into it, including Britain'slargest, Buzzard.
The website also said a likely two-week full system shutdownwas now planned from Aug. 1, 2014 for the installation ofsub-sea isolation valves in the Brae and Forties main oil linesat Forties Charlie.
Some traders said it looked as if the two-week maintenanceoriginally planned for August this year had been deferred for ayear, but others disagreed, saying this was differentmaintenance. A spokesperson for the Forties Pipeline Systemcould not be reached for comment.
Plans to conduct an annual emergency shutdown valve test onthe Forties Charlie platform on Aug. 10 this year and a Unityshutdown for three to four days from Aug. 1 have not beenchanged, according to the website.
The BP Unity pumping station is an unmanned facility in theForties field. It allows connections from the Bruce, Scott,Nelson, Britannia and Graben Area fields to tie into the Fortiespipeline to Cruden Bay.
