Norway Receives Njord Upgrade Plan

Norwegian petroleum minister Terje Soviknes said March 27 he has received the plan for development and operation (PDO) for the Njord oil and gas field upgrade and for the Bauge field development from partners in the Norwegian Sea fields.

The Njord upgrade is a unique project, he said, because it is the first time in Norwegian oil history that a platform is taken back to shore for upgrading. He said development costs are NKr 15bn ($1.75bn). Production from Njord is expected to resume in late 2020.

Two weeks ago Statoil, on behalf of Njord partners, has awarded a NKr 5bn contract to Kvaerner to upgrade the Njord A platform in the Norwegian Sea. Njord licensees are operator Statoil 20%, DEA 50%, France's Engie 20%, Faroe Petroleum 7.5% and VNG 2.5%.

Njord A platform being towed back to the Kvaerner Stord yard in Norway in summer 2016 (Photo credit: Statoil)

Remaining reserves in the Njord field, including Hyme, are about 175mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), so the upgrade should create substantial value over the coming decade, said Soviknes. Njord has been onstream since 1997 and last year partners in Pil and Bue oil and gas fields (operated by VNG) picked a tie-back to Njord as their development concept. Bauge remaining reserves are some 73mn boe.  

Statoil said that capital expenditures for both fields total NKr 19.8bn ($2bn), of which 15.7bn for Njord and 4.1bn for Bauge, adding that under its plan Njord would remain onstream until 2040.

Mark Smedley