Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Equinor and its partners in the Gullfaks field in the Norwegian North Sea have committed to drill seven new wells under an amended plan for development and operation (PDO).
They aim to recover a further 17 MMbbl.
The wells will be drilled in the Shetland Group carbonate reservoir which lies above the main reservoir.
A well test in 2012 proved that this reservoir had oil production potential, and the partners have spent more than NOK1 billion ($117 million) on production wells in the formation since 2013, delivering more than 6 MMbbl of oil from theShetland/Lista Phase 1 development.
More oil could potentially be produced through water injection, hence the Norwegian authorities’ request for an amended PDO for Shetland/Lista Phase 2 in 2019.
The new scheme will involve water injection and seven horizontal production wells drilled using existing facilities onGullfaks.
“These formations that used to pose a challenge are now due to producing at a break-even below $30/bbl,” said Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Development and Production Norway.
Lessons learned from this project should also be applicable to carbonate reservoir production in Equinor’s projects in other parts of the world, the company added.
01/16/2019
