Offshore staff
HOUSTON – Statoil has lifted average oil and gas recovery from its operated Norwegian fields to 50%, up from 49% in 2011.
“That’s the magic number,” said Karl Johnny Hersvik, VP for Research and Development. “It means we’re into the realms of squeezing the last drop from the reservoir...It compares with the world average of 35%.”
The 1% increase amounts to an extra 327 MMboe of production, equivalent to Statoil’s recent Skrugard and Havis discoveries in the Barents Sea, he added.
However, in the Gulf of Mexico, recovery from Statoil’s Palaeoecene fields is typically only 10%, said Siri Espedal Kindem, VP Technology Excellence. One of the company’s goals is to transfer technologies applied offshore Norway, she added, to realize a 3-5% increase in recovery from some of its bigger fields in the GoM.
Globally, Statoil is targeting growth in production from 1.9 MMboe/d in 2010 to 2.5 MMboe/d in 2020. Kindem outlined four main planks to the company’s strategy:
- Improvements in seismic imaging and interpretation to increase both discoveries and recovery. The company has established seismic imaging centers in Norway and Houston to help out
- Improved reservoir characterization
- Reducing well construction time by 30%, and well construction costs (including completions) by 15%. This could entail wider application of techniques such as managed pressure drilling, or automated drilling
- Extending the envelope for subsea production. Currently more than half of Statoil’s output comes from more than 480 subsea wells. Subsea compression on at least three of the company’s Norwegian fields could play a big part, Kindem said, “and the closer the compressor is to the wells, the higher the efficiency and the production.”
Compact separation modules on the seafloor could also cut development costs, she suggested, although the industry needs to work on taking electrical power longer distances subsea to further both of these technologies.
5/2/2012
