Wintershall Submits Norwegian Oil PDO

Germany’s Wintershall said May 16 it has submitted the Nova oil field PDO (plan for development and operation) to the Norwegian authorities for approval, after reaching agreement with partners.

The German operator said developing Nova (previously Skarfjell) is estimated to cost kroner 9.9bn ($1.2bn); the field has some 80mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of reserves, of which the majority is oil. Pending final approval by the Norwegian authorities, the license partnership now enters the execution phase of the development; the North Sea oil field’s planned start up in 2021.

The Nova PDO requires a new module on the Gjoa field, accounting for kroner 2bn (one-fifth) of the total development costs, to which it will be tied back. The Neptune-operated Gjoa gas field will provide gas uplift to the field and water injection. Nova field will also receive power from shore via the Gjoa platform.

Nova is mainly located on PL418; Wintershall owns 35%, UK firms Cairn Energy and Spirit Energy each 20%, EDF-controlled Edison 15% and German DEA 10%. 

Wintershall said that Nova is the first PDO submitted offshore Norway so far this year. Wintershall and DEA are still planning a merger of their global upstream interests which they aim to complete 2H2018.

Map credit: DEA