Equinor signs Odfjell for more North Sea Sverdrup wells

July 7, 2020
Equinor has signed a letter of intent to use Odfjell Drilling’s semisubmersible Deepsea Atlantic to drill 12 wells plus five optional wells for the Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 field development in the North Sea.

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Equinor has signed a letter of intent to use Odfjell Drilling’s semisubmersible Deepsea Atlantic to drill 12 wells plus five optional wells for the Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 field development in the North Sea.

The same rig has been drilling for Phase 1, with the new program set to start in early 2022.

Estimated value of the fixed part of the agreement is around $150 million: this does not include costs of integrated services, mobilization/demobilization, modifications/upgrades, or the five extra wells. The full contract value will ultimately depend on the efficiency of the well deliveries.

The Deepsea Atlantic is already on contract to Equinor and the company hopes to keep it fully occupied until Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 comes onstream at the end of 2022.

The development also involves construction of a subsea production system, reconstruction of the existing riser platform and a new processing platform, which will in addition house a converter unit receiving power from shore.

The latter will distribute power to other fields on the Utsira High: Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Gina Krog and Sleipner. Sverdrup’s four existing platforms on the Johan Sverdrup field already receiving power from shore and collectively have CO2 emissions of 0.7 kg/bbl.

Phase 2 will increase the field’s production capacity from 470,000 to 690,000 b/d at peak, with a break-even price below $20/bbl.

07/07/2020