The Kimmeridge Oil Field is to the northwest of Kimmeridge Bay, on the south coast of the Isle of Purbeck

Isle of Purbeck

The Isle of Purbeck, not a true island but a peninsula, is in the county of Dorset, England. It is bordered by the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the north. Its western boundary is less well...

, in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Location

The small village Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge is a small village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast. Kimmeridge is about south of Wareham and about west of Swanage and is on the Isle of Purbeck...

 is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of Wareham

Wareham, Dorset

Wareham is an historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles southwest of Poole.-Situation and geography:...

 and about 8 kilometres (5 mi) west of Swanage

Swanage

Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...

. The Kimmeridge oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

 is part of the Wytch Farm

Wytch Farm

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 north of Corfe Castle...

 oil field and processing facility operated by BP

BP

BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...

. Wytch Farm is on the southern shore of Poole Harbour

Poole Harbour

Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being the Frome. The harbour has a long history of human settlement...

 and about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) northeast of the oil well. Kimmeridge Bay and its cliffs are part of the Jurassic Coast

Jurassic Coast

The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....

, a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

, because of the quality and variety of geological landforms along the coast.

History

In Dorset the search for oil started back in 1935. Between 1958 and 1980 six wells were drilled in Kimmeridge Bay. The first drilling of the Kimmeridge oil field was the B1 to the north of Broad Bench, which revealed neither oil nor gas. The second drilling B2, later renamed K1, was made in 1959 and both oil and gas were discovered. The K2 (drilled 1960) to the east of the car park showed only small amounts oil, but it was retained as an observation well. The drillings K3 (drilled 1959 to 1960) at Broad Bench and K5 (drilled in 1980 near the K1 well) exposed only weak oil contents, while the drilling K4 in 1960, east of Brandy Bay

Brandy Bay, Dorset

Brandy Bay is a small secluded southwest-facing bay, with an Oil shale and shingle beach immediately below Gad Cliff and Tyneham Cap, to the east of Worbarrow Bay and to the west of Hobarrow Bay on the south coast of the Isle of Purbeck, in Dorset, England....

 by Long Ebb, revealed no exposures due to a mechanical breakdown.

The Kimmeridge K1 well site, is a small site, with a single beam pump or "nodding donkey" which has been pumping continually since 1961, making it the oldest working oil pump in the UK. The well once produced 350 barrels per day, but currently yields around 65 oilbbl/d from the Jurassic

Jurassic

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to  Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...

 strata

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 that lie around 350 metres (1,148.3 ft) below the cliff. The well has been operating this long because it is tapped into a network of connected reserves, however the yield is decreasing. The oil is transported by tanker to Wytch Farm, from where it is piped to the storage tanks at Hamble-le-Rice on Southampton Water

Southampton Water

Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point. Along its salt marsh-fringed western shores lie the New Forest villages of Hythe and "the waterside", Dibden Bay, and the Esso oil refinery at Fawley...

before being shipped to the main refinery. The nodding donkey has a high wire-mesh fence around it but it can be viewed clearly from all sides. The well provides views over the Kimmeridge Ledges and 8 kilometres (5 mi) of coast where bedrock extends at least half a kilometre out to sea under the waves.