Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Norway’s parliament has approved Statoil’s $3.7-billion plan for development and operation of the Valemon gas/condensate field in the North Sea. Start-up is due in 2014.
This is one of the company’s largest development projects in the Norwegian sector over the next few years, harnessing estimated recoverable reserves of 206 MMboe. This breaks down as 26 bcm (918 bcf) of gas, 5 MMcm (31.4 MMbbl) of condensate and 1 MMcm (6.3 MMbbl) of NGLs.
Development involves a fixed steel-jacket platform to separate gas, condensate, and water. The normally unmanned facility will be controlled remotely from the Kvitebjørn platform after drilling operations have been completed in 2016/17.
Valemon’s gas will be transported via the existing Huldra pipeline to the Heimdal hub for onward export to European markets. At peak, the field should produce around 3 bcm/yr (105.9 bcf/yr).
Condensate will be piped to Kvitebjørn for stabilization and further transport to the Mongstad refinery in Hordaland, western Norway.
“Production from Valemon will enable us to utilize spare capacity in the processing facilities on the Kvitebjørn and Heimdal platforms. Meanwhile, the platform and transport systems provide an excellent basis for the development of further oil and gas fields in the area,” said Statoil Senior VP of NCS Field Development Ivar Aasheim.
Licensees are Statoil (operator – 64.275%), Total (2.5%), Enterprise Oil Norge (3.225%), and Petoro (30%).
06/10/2011
