Offshore staff
SANDNES, Norway – Three new development projects could go forward in the Ekofisk area of the southern Norwegian North Sea, according to Vår Energi.
At present the PL 018 licensees are working to mature the Eldfisk North project via two new subsea templates and eight oil production wells.
An investment decision should follow soon with start-up possible in 2022 – Vår estimates resources in this part of the Ekofisk field at 55 MMboe.
There is a similar resource at the Tor II project, where the selected concept is again for two subsea templates and eight oil producing wells.
The wellstream will be connected to the PL018 Ekofisk 2/4M platform for treatment and processing, with production set to begin in 1Q 2021.
Another decision could follow by mid-year on Tommeliten Alpha in PL 044, with recoverable resources from gas/condensate discoveries on the area assessed at 117 MMboe.
The presently favored option is an unmanned wellhead platform with 11 gas producing wells, connected to PL 018 Ekofisk via a ‘tie-in’ platform. In this case, production would likely start in 2024.
In the Barents Sea, the Norwegian authorities have agreed to extend the duration of the Alke license to 2048 pending submission of a plan for development and operation by March 1, 2022.
Planning continues for a potential development of the Alke field involving gas export. Studies are under way for several gas export concepts, in combination with theGoliat license.
Last December the Vår-led partnership approved a one-well development (Marulk Lange) for the Marulk gas/condensate field in the Norwegian Sea, to be drilled from existing infrastructure this summer.
The well should come onstream in December. Volumes from the Lange-formation will extend Marulk’s production until 2024.
In the same region, the Kristin gas/condensate field has experienced lower operational
regularity than expected, mainly due to compressor issues.
The present focus is on the Kristin South project covering three licenses: HWU, PL 199 and PL 257. This will likely involve a subsea development linked to the Kristin platform using existing subsea templates.
Åsgard too has experienced challenges recently with the risk of well collapse in old wells, leading to some flexible risers being taken out of service. In addition, a pump collapse impacted the subsea compression facility.
The Mikkel field is linked to Åsgard via three production wells. One well had to be shut down at the end of last year due to the risk of hydrate formation, and this will be subject to further work in 2019.
Planning has resumed for the Mikkel South and Flyndretind projects to ensure accessible transport capacity from 2024 within Åsgard’s gas transport system. The project recently passed concept evaluation.
Another Norwegian Sea complex is at the Heidrun field. Here the subsea infrastructure was upgraded during 2018 through the installation of a new production flowline.
In addition, the partners sanctioned two new subsea templates in the northern part of the field.
04/04/2019
