Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway – Equinor and its partners will spend close to NOK 1.4 billion ($165 million) on further development of the Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea via the Åsgard B low-pressure project.
“The project will increase production from the current [satellite] Smørbukk wells and contribute to achieve planned production from the field,” said Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s senior vice president for projects.
Åsgard came onstream in 1999 in the Haltenbanken region, around 200 km (124 mi) offshore mid-Norway. The gas-condensate Midgard, Smørbukk and Smørbukk South deposits, along with the Mikkel, Trestakk and Morvin fields, are all tied back to the Åsgard infrastructure.
The transition to low-pressure production is designed to improve recovery.
“We can still produce 400-500 MMboe from the field,” said Randi Hugdahl, vice president for Åsgard operations. “This means value creation in the order of NOK150-200 billion [$17.66-23.55 billion].
“The current recovery rate for the field is almost 50%, but our ambition is to extract 60% of the hydrocarbons in the reservoirs before the field will have to be shut down.”
Equinor plans to modify the semisubmersible Åsgard B gas-processing platform to reduce inlet pressure by replacing the reinjection compressors and reconstructing parts of the topsides process facility to accommodate both high and low-pressure production.
Aker Solutions has won the NOK800-million ($94.23-million) EPCI contract for this work, having previously undertaken the FEED for the low-pressure project.
The company’s Trondheim complex will handle management and engineering for the project, with prefabrication taking place at its yard in Egersund. Work will continue through 2024.
Gas from Åsgard is exported through the Åsgard Transport system to Kårstø, north of Stavanger. Installations at or connected to Åsgard have delivered more than 2.8 Bboe, Equinor added.
Planned start-up of low-pressure production is in 2023. Other partners in the Åsgard license are Petoro, Vår Energi, and Total E&P Norge.
03/04/2021
