Dvalin Development On Target: DEA
Hamburg-based oil and gas producer DEA, owned by Russian-run fund LetterOne, has reported on progress June 27 with its Dvalin offshore gas development project, offshore Norway, which it says remains on target to produce first gas in 2020.
Dvalin gas field was discovered in 2010, on licence PL435 in the Norwegian Sea. It is DEA’s first operated development project in Norway. Its plan for development (PDO) was submitted to the authorities in October 2016. The kroner 10bn ($1.2bn) project was cleared by Oslo for development in March 2017.
DEA now reports that loadout of the subsea template, from the Norwegian port of Egersund this April, marked the start of an "extensive offshore program" for the project. This week, DEA said the Far Superior vessel wrapped up the Dvalin offshore 2018 work season on time, budget, and without incidents. The company said that in 56 days, the project had installed: the Dvalin template on location; a module (H25) on the Heidrun platform; and the gas export pipeline from Heidrun to the tee location on the Polarled pipeline. It had also cleaned and gauged that gas export pipeline.
DEA's keenness to act as a good corporate citizen, providing updates on its landmark project, possibly reflects an unease among Russian firms with the Norwegian government - which continues to hold off on its approval of a farm-in by Russian state-run giant Gazprom to OMV-owned field interests offshore Norway. The Norwegian petroleum minister Terje Soeviknes told Reuters last month the government was "not happy" about the deal - first announced in late 2016 - to swap a 38.5% stake in OMV's Norway business for a 25% stake in Gazprom's Urengoi field.
LetterOne's main owner Mikhail Fridman was named in January 2018 among 210 allies of Russian president Vladimir Putin on a US Treasury watchlist, but no sanctions were imposed on him.