alder
business overview
subsea innovation unlocks potential
The Alder Field brings a new stream of natural gas to Chevron’s production portfolio and the United Kingdom. Yet this North Sea asset is no newcomer to the country’s energy scene.
Discovered in 1975, development of the gas condensate field was considered impossible, due to the challenges of high pressures and high temperatures in the field's reservoir, lying 14,700ft (4,480m) beneath the seabed.
Nearly 40 years later, the right combination of technology, infrastructure for processing and export, and commercial conditions made the project viable. Chevron announced its investment decision in January 2014.
The project has a design capacity of 14,000 barrels of condensate and 110 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
alder – journey to first gas
Alder, located 100 miles (160 km) east of Scotland in the Central North Sea, is being developed using a single subsea well tied back to an existing gas condensate field, Britannia, via a 17.4 mile (28 km) production flowline. Produced gas condensate (a mixture of hydrocarbon liquids from natural gas) will be processed in new dedicated facilities on the Britannia platform. Condensate and gas will be exported to Scotland-based terminals at Grangemouth and the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation, St Fergus, respectively.
extending britannia's life
Data sourced from U.K. Economic Impact Report published August 2016, with research independently administered by Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Fraser of Allander Institute.



investing in U.K.
suppliers
Chevron relies on the innovation of local businesses in the United Kingdom as it continues to develop resources in the North Sea.
More than 70 percent of the development work for Alder was executed in the U.K. by fabricators and suppliers located in Scotland and England. The total value of the U.K. contracts is more than $660 million (£440 million).
With our core vendor Schlumberger, we have increased efficiency by focusing on "total cost of ownership" in response to the pressures of high industry costs and low oil prices, shaving a potential $5.7 million (£3.8 million) off project costs.
Since 2006, Chevron has contributed more than $5.25 billion (£3.5 billion) to the U.K. economy through investment in North Sea projects and has paid more than $5.25 billion in taxes to the U.K. government.
technology
fly-through alder technologies
Learn about the innovative technologies Chevron is using at Alder Field in the North Sea in this fly-through animation that takes you from reservoir to platform.
The Alder reservoir lies some 14,500 feet (4.4 km) below the sea bed, in the Upper Jurassic geologic zone. At this depth, pressures are 12,500 pounds per square inch, some 400 times that of a typical car tire. The temperature is 300°F (152°C).
This type of high-pressure, high-temperature reservoir was considered impossible to develop until recent years. Today we deploy an array of technologies to overcome the challenges.