Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in western Europe. The facility, operated by BP, is hidden in a coniferous forest on Wytch Heath on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, two miles (3 km) north of Corfe Castle. Oil and natural gas (methane) are both exported by pipeline; liquified petroleum gas is exported by road tanker.
The field was discovered by t...
more
Wytch Farm is an oil field and processing facility in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England. It is the largest onshore oil field in western Europe. The facility, operated by BP, is hidden in a coniferous forest on Wytch Heath on the southern shore of Poole Harbour, two miles (3 km) north of Corfe Castle. Oil and natural gas (methane) are both exported by pipeline; liquified petroleum gas is exported by road tanker.
The field was discovered by the nationalised British Gas Corporation in December 1973 and began producing oil in 1979. As part of the privatisation of British Gas in the 1980s Wytch Farm was sold to BP which took over as operator in 1984.
The field is located in a faulted block of Jurassic and older rocks beneath the Hampshire Basin, close to the steeply sloping monocline in the overlying chalk that defines its southern limit. The field consists of three separate reservoirs known as Bridport, Sherwood and Frome. Bridport, the first discovery, is in the Jurassic Bridport...
less
