Statoil Starts North Sea Project 4 Months Early

Statoil said August 30 that its Gullfaks Rimfaks valley (GRD) project has come onstream four months ahead of schedule. The development cost ended up Nkr 1bn ($120mn) less than originally estimated when its plan was submitted in late 2014, reducing costs from Nkr 4.8bn to Nkr 3.7bn ($446mn).

The fast-track development opens up recoverable reserves of some 80mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), mostly gas. Statoil is operator (51%), backed by Norwegian state holding Petoro (30%) and Austria’s OMV (19%).

Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil’s executive vice president for Development and Production Norway

The development consists of a standard subsea template with two simple gas production wells, and possibilities for tie-in of two more wells. The well stream is connected to the existing pipeline leading to the Gullfaks A platform, some 5-15 km away. Gas and condensate are transported through existing pipelines to the processing plant at Karsto, then onward to European markets.

"Volumes from Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen help us reach our ambition of maintaining production and a high activity level on the Norwegian continental shelf beyond 2030," said Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil’s executive vice president for Development and Production Norway.

Separately, Statoil said August 25 that its Njord A platform arrived at the Kværner Stord shipyard that day, where it will be reinforced and renovated for production beyond 2030. When the field was developed, it was scheduled for production only until 2013. Now it is expected to produce for at least ten more years. Its overall expected recovery of oil and gas is now 333mn boe, much higher than the 200mn boe in its original plan, thanks to tying-in the Snilehorn and more recent finds. Statoil operates Njord with 20%; Engie has 40%, DEA 30%, Faroe Petroleum 7.5% and Germany's VNG Norge 2.5%.

Mark Smedley