Cormorant Alpha with spuming seas

Description

Cormorant Alpha with spuming seas

This is a fantasy view of the Cormorant Alpha platform during high seas on a crisp Winters day. It measures 1 x 1m and is painted in acrylic on canvas. The waves lap, the wind howls and throws up spume from the waves.
Cormorant Alpha with spuming seas is a large and imposing painting, ideal for a large room in a house or in an office space.

This depiction was painted during the June of 2015 as a celebration of the rig and the weather it endures.

The platform was named after Cormorant sea bird which hunt and nest on the coast of the North Sea. The Cormorant oilfield is located 161 kilometers (100 mi) north east of Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland, in block number 211/26a. It was discovered in September 1972. Estimated recovery is 90 million barrels (14×106 m3) of oil. The oil reservoir is located at a depth of 2,895 meters (9,498 ft).

Production started in December 1979 from the Cormorant Alpha platform. This platform is a concrete gravity platform of the Condeep type. It has four legs and storage capacity for 1 million barrels (160,000 m3) of oil. The total sub-structure weight is 294,655 tonnes and it is designed to carry a topsides weight of 32,350 tonnes.

The topsides facilities included capability to drill, produce, meter and pump oil. It also has capability to re-inject water to maintain reservoir pressure. Peak production was 24,000 barrels per day (3,800 m3/d) in 1979. The platform is also the starting point for the Brent System pipeline, a major communications center and the location of Brent Log – air traffic control for Northern North Sea helicopter traffic.