Offshore staff
LYSAKER, Norway – Aker BP and its partners in the Valhall field in the southern Norwegian North Sea have taken a final investment decision for the first phase of the Wellhead Platform Production Recovery (WPPR) project.
This will involve a water injection test and drilling of six infill producer wells in the Lower Hod formation. It represents a continuation of drilling in the Valhall central area following a successful campaign from the field’s IP platform.
Elsewhere in the North Sea, the company plans to drill a new side track soon from the Volund field (a subsea tieback to Alvheim), continuing its strategy of increased oil recovery from the area.
Following last year’s Frosk oil discovery near the Bøyla field in the same area, a new well is now drilling. This will deliver further information on the reservoir and will be completed as a producer used for test production from mid-2019 onwards.
In connection with this, the Froskelår North-East prospect will be tested with a view to proving additional resources, and during 3Q the company plans to drill the Rumpetroll prospect, again to develop the resource base close to Alvheim.
Phase 1 of the Ærfugl development in the Norwegian Sea, a subsea tieback to the company’s Skarv complex, is progressing as planned with engineering, procurement, and fabrication under way on the subsea system structure, the wellheads and the vertical Xmas tree system.
Offshore modification work has started and subsea installation should begin this summer, followed by the start of drilling by 4Q.
Remaining technology qualification activities for the trace-heated pipe-in-pipe system and the new generation of vertical Xmas trees are also on track for assembly and construction in 2019.
Ærfugl should come onstream in late 2020, while Phase 2 of the development is pending a formal concept selection. A final investment decision should follow by year-end.
This year the company is targeting production from its fields offshore Norway of 155-160,000 boe/d; capex of $1.6 billion; exploration investments totalling $500 million, with a line-up of 15 exploration wells pursuing net prospective resources of 500 MMboe; abandonment spend of $150 million on plugging of depleted wells and removal of the old living quarters platform at Valhall; and production costs of around $12.5/boe, with high maintenance and modifications activity in particularly at Valhall and Ula in the southern North Sea.
05/09/2019
