Aker BP gets government go-ahead for North Sea Tyrving-Alvheim tieback

LYSAKER, Norway — The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has approved Aker BP’s plan for development and operation (PDO) for the Tyrving project (ex-Trell & Trine fields) in the Alvheim area of the North Sea.

The development will tie into the Alvheim Field infrastructure, with estimated investments totaling about $700 million. Production should start in first-quarter 2025.

Tyrving has recoverable resources of about 25 MMboe with projected CO₂ emissions of 0.3 kg/bbl. Aker BP will collaborate with its alliance partners on the Norwegian Continental Shelf on the development.

The Alvheim FPSO, originally commissioned by Marathon Oil, has been in production for 15 years.  When Marathon submitted the PDO in 2004, it expected to recover 171 MMboe, but production from the Alvheim Field exceeded this target in early 2014.

Currently, the total volume produced from the Alvheim area is more than three times the PDO estimate, Aker BP said.

In addition to the Kneler, Kameleon, Boa and Vilje oil and gas discoveries in the area, various other discoveries have been tied back to the FPSO. Earlier this year, Aker BP brought onstream the Frosk Field subsea tieback and another, KEG (Kobra East & Gekko), is under development.

Ine Dolve, senior vice president for the Alvheim asset at Aker BP, said, “We have had a continuous improvement in production efficiency throughout the period both in terms of uptime and costs.”

The main concept for the geology has not changed over the years, but the company has improved its understanding of the subsurface through 3D and 4D seismic and production data from the wells.

Various long multi-lateral wells have been drilled.

“In addition to this, valves and chokes are actively adjusted by the operations team to optimize production every single day,” Dolve added. “New discoveries and fields linked to the 

06.08.2023