# Morecombe Bay Gas Production Facility



## benjidog

I flew over some rigs in Morecombe Bay a couple of weeks ago and got a pretty clear view. I am attaching one of the photos I took here in case anyone is interested.

Looking at these structures from the shore they look tiny!

Regards,

Brian


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## Geoff_E

That's Morecambe Central complex, operated by Hydrocarbon Resources (part of Centrica). Strictly speaking this (these) are not rigs but a production facility. If I recall rightly they are, from left to right, accommodation & utilities, Process & production and wellhead platforms. They have letter designators but I can't recall them at the moment.


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## benjidog

Geoff,

Thanks for the information. I do not claim to know much about these massive platforms. My interest was that I can see the thing in the distance when I take my dog for a walk on the beach and this was the first time I saw it up cloase. Glad I had the camera with me.

Brian


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## gdynia

Brian
Morecambe Bay is primalary a Gas Field and has been going for alot of years. I first worked their in the 70,s. They have had many changes of ownership over the years and Centrica seems to be the biggest player their at present. It is a very bad area for H2S Gas. If I remember correctly they used to pump gas overland to the Rough Gas Field off the River Humber for storage. I believe Centrica is being sought out by one of the big Russian Gas Companies


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## Eltel

Spent some time tied up to these in the late 80s. This was on the DSV British Enterprise V. Used to lie with the anchors out for'd and sternlines made fast to the jackets. This was to enable air diving to be carried out over the stern to inspect the jacket and risers.


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## gdynia

We were probally close by you on the Seaboard Invincible


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## Eltel

Did you crew change in Heysham? Nuclear Arms for orders! You'd go ashore and find the ship had disappeared below the quay as the tide fell!


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## gdynia

We used to crew change offshore with one of the Stirling Boats. Got into Heysham once but if we docked it was normally Barrow in Furness


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## trevor8869

Worked the Morecambe bay field from day one ,on the Stirling Imp ,stirling Sprite , and on the DSV Morecambe Diver until the end of our charter


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## Brian Leaf

I worked on this platform about 2 years ago. major shutdown on the gas compression trains. Good feeder. Accomadation quite good. Still have a big H2s problem, personnal gas detectors at all times. What I found unique was the guys have been on there from virtualy day 1 and it is the only platform I have ever worked on were the daily papers are delivered to your cabin. I thought I was back with BI lol.


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## Pravda

The photograph from Benjidog shows the Central Production Platform (CP) in the middle, DP1, (Drilling Platform 1) on the right and the accommodation platform on the left. CP is fed by three satellite platforms much the same as DP1. In the "olden" days, the Morecambe Field only produced for two weeks a year. Now, it produces 24/7 and has huge compressors assisting extraction. The H2S problem is negligible, only a tiny percentage is present. As opposed to the Caspian project in Kazakhstan, were in RED AREAS breathing apparatus is worn at all times.


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## JimC

If I remember rightly; DP1 was the first platforrm to use a slant drill rig rather than the conventional vertcal drilling tower. The platform was built either by Marathon or their successors UIE.


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## Pravda

Your right Jim. Slant drilling was quite an innovation back then. Today they explain how advanced they are by telling you that its like threading a hair through the ceiling of a room and being able to hit a sixpence anywhere on the floor. But then again, you know what drillers are !!!


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## RayJordandpo

I remember back in the early nineties on a dive support vessel in Morecambe/ Liverpool bay. We got the helicopter from Speke airport and it was only about a 10-15 minute ride. We flew over that model of the British Isles in one of the Liverpool docks where they did the TV weather programme from. We were doing dive jobs at different locations all over the Bay. My memories a bit vague but I'm sure one of the jobs involved a power cable running ashore for and due to some local political wrangle it actually ended up going ashore miles away from the intended location. I will have to do some research.


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## gordy

I don't know if any of the old Morecambe bay hands can confirm this, but in the early days it was said that the money for regular crew was so poor due to the companies trying to stall against paying a decent offshore allowance, it resulted in the lowest paid of the catering crews getting income support!


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## Fieldsy

benjidog said:


> Geoff,
> 
> Thanks for the information. I do not claim to know much about these massive platforms. My interest was that I can see the thing in the distance when I take my dog for a walk on the beach and this was the first time I saw it up cloase. Glad I had the camera with me.
> 
> Brian



Brian,
What part of the beach do you walk on? I lived at the west end of Morecambe in the late 70s, on the seafront, and never set foot on the beach in the 3 years I was there - just looked like sludge.


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## benjidog

On the sand dunes at At St Annes Fieldsy. This morning the tide was right out and you could see the platforms very clearly in the distance. 

I imagine you could see the platforms from anywhere from The Wirral round to Barrow they are so huge.


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## Pravda

I used to lean on the handrails at night and watch the Blackpool illuminations. On a clear night you could make out some of the figures. Central was a good place to work, friendly crew, newspapers every day. Best tab - nabs I ever had offshore.


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