Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway– Equinor and its partners have decided to invest NOK1.4 billion ($165 million) in a boosting station at the Vigdis field in the in the Tampen area in the North Sea.
The subsea Vigdis field has been producing oil through the Snorre field for more than 20 years. Field production will now be boosted by almost 11 MMbbl. The boosting station is expected to come online in 1Q 2021.
Torger Rød, Equinor’s senior vice president for project management control, said: “This is an improved oil recovery project which includes a multi-phase boosting station that will increase production from existing wells. This adds new oil barrels at a highly competitive price.”
The boosting station will be connected to the pipeline to enhance the capacity between Vigdis and Snorre A. It will also help bring the well stream from the subsea field up to the platform. Thanks to the boosting station wellhead pressure can also be reduced, which further increases production from the wells, the company said.
In addition to the subsea boosting station the project will involve some modifications to Snorre A, which receives oil from the Vigdis field, and Snorre B, supplying the new boosting station with power from a new umbilical.
OneSubsea has won an estimated NOK700-million ($82-million) contract to deliver the boosting system, including subsea template and trawling protection.
Engineering starts this month in Bergen, while the assembly will take place at the company’s plant at Horsøy near Bergen. OneSubsea will use several sub-contractors, including Framo Flatøy fabricating the pump and Luster Mekaniske Industri fabricating piping. A total of 500 people will be involved in delivering the Vigdis boosting station.
According to Equinor, when the Vigdis field came onstream in 1997 it was assumed that the field would produce 200 MMbbl of oil. So far, the field has produced 394 MMbbl. Recoverable resources from Vigdis are now estimated at 455 MMbbl of oil.
Equinor is operator with 41.5% interest. The other partners are Petoro AS (30%), ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway (16.1%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS (9.6%), and DEA Norge AS (2.8%).
12/06/2018
