Brent oilfield

The Brent oilfield is one of the most productive parts of the United Kingdom's offshore oil assets, although now in steady decline.

Situated in the East Shetland basin , the Brent is the archetype for many of the fields in the area, consisting of a tilted fault block exposing the eponymous Brent formation next to bounding faults which allowed migration from deeper adjacent "kitchen" areas where the Kimmeridge Clay Formation becomes fully mature and releases hydrocarbons. Unusually on a world-wide scale (but common in this basin), the seal or cap rock for the reservoir (which stops the hydrocarbons from migrating further towards the surface) is also the Kimmeridge Clay. The field supplies oil via a pipeline to the terminal at Sullom Voe, while gas comes ashore at St. Fergus on the north east coast of Scotland. The Brent field is exploited by 5 platforms in an irregular SSW- NNE line. The first in place was the steel-jacket Brent-A (as of 2004, decommissioning is in progress), then three concrete legged platforms (Brent B, C, D) were emplaced to the NNE. A fifth installation, the floating Brent E served as a storage and tanker loading buoy and was installed early in the field's construction. The "spar" design of this installation lead to the name by which it became the best known of the Brent installations (outside the oil industry) - as the infamous "Brent Spar".