Norway greenlights partial electrification of Sleipner

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has approved Equinor’s revised plan for development and operation (PDO) for partial electrification of the Sleipner field center in the Norwegian North Sea.

The field center will be tied to the Utsira High area solution, and Sleipner is expected to cut emissions by more than 150,000 metric tons of CO₂ per year.

In June 2020, Equinor and its partners Vår Energi, LOTOS, and KUFPEC submitted a revised PDO to the authorities. The investments are expected to be about NOK 850 million ($100 million). Sleipner is scheduled to be tied in to the Utsira High area solution by the end of 2022.

The Sleipner field center solution involves laying a power cable from Sleipner to the Gina Krog platform, which will be tied to the power from shore Utsira High area solution.

The Utsira High area solution was originally planned for the four fields: Johan Sverdrup, Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, and Gina Krog. The Sleipner field center and the Gudrun, Gina Krog, Utgard, Gungne, and Sigyn tie-in fields will now receive power from shore through the area solution, Equinor said.

Last June, Aibel was awarded the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning contract for Sleipner modifications. The contract for production and laying of cables was awarded to NKT.

Sleipner license partners are Equinor Energy AS (operator, 59.6%), Vår Energi AS (15.4%), LOTOS Exploration and Production Norge AS (15.0%), and KUFPEC Norway AS (10.0%).

02/11/2021