Statoil and its partners have opted for a fixed platform to develop theDagny oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian North Sea. The satellite Eirin gas field will be tied back 9 km (5.6 mi) to the platform via subsea facilities.
Gas from Dagny will be exported through a connection to the infrastructure on Sleipner East. Produced oil will likely be offloaded to shuttle tankers.
Dagny was discovered in 1974, 30 km (18.6 mi) northeast of Sleipner East in 125 m (410 ft) water depth, and was originally considered a small gas field.
In 2007, however, oil and gas were proven in the neighboring Dagny East (ex-Ermintrude) structure, causing a reassessment of the development scope.
Further appraisal work in 2008-2011 established a connection between Dagny and Dagny East, with substantial oil resources beneath the entire structure.
Eirin was discovered in 1978. Together the fields hold an estimated 300 MMboe, according to Ivar Aasheim, Statoil’s senior VP for field development Norway. The development will exploit the spare capacity on Sleipner East for many years to come, he added.
“There’s been a very good dialogue between the Dagny, Eirin, and Sleipner licensees, with four different licences working to achieve a good coordinated solution with existing infrastructure.”
The next step will be to award front-end engineering design (FEED) contracts, with an investment decision likely within a year. The company estimates costs of $4.1-4.9 billion for the two fields, including rig chartering and drilling, with start-up possible in 2016.
Statoil is operator with a provisional shareholding of 58.5%, in partnership with ExxonMobil (33%), Total (6.5%) and Det norske oljeselskap (2%). The final license shares will be subject to negotiation ahead of the development decision.
