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EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Equinor suffers Castberg

setbacks

NORWAY EQUINOR has suffered setbacks at the Johan to the Hammerfest LNG plant. The com-
Castberg oilfield in the Barents Sea, potentially pany last week awarded a contract to Stavan-
The FPSO will be meaning the project could slip behind schedule. ger-based Aibel for front-end engineering
delayed due to In a statement on September 2, Norway’s design (FEED) work at the liquefaction
corrective work. Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) said it had complex.
launched a probe into problems with the hull Valued at NOK140mn ($1.7mn), the con-
of the field’s floating production storage and tract covers designs for an onshore compres-
offloading (FPSO) unit. PSA said that Equinor sion unit and Hammerfest LNG’s potential
had identified major challenges with the qual- electrification. The compressor will provide
ity of the hull’s welds. It also said errors had pressure support to maintain production
been found in the analysis programme used for levels at the plant. This will be important as
fatigue calculations. well pressure at Snohvit decreases. The unit
Corrective work means that the FPSO hull will also help boost overall recovery from the
will be delayed, PSA said. field.
The FPSO hull was ordered by Equinor back Equinor and its partners Petoro, Total, Nep-
in 2017 from Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine. Its tune Energy and Wintershall Dea aim to select a
construction was described at the time as “the concept for the unit in this autumn.
most time-critical delivery” for the project to The group is also considering electrifying
arrive on schedule. The field was originally Hammerfest LNG to reduce emissions. This
scheduled to start up in late 2022 but Equinor’s will involve the replacement of the plant’s gas
website now forecasts the launch in 2023. turbines with power from shore, potentially
“Furthermore, efforts to correct weld and bringing carbon emissions to near zero. A
fatigue analysis errors create uncertainty about concept is due to be selected by the end of the
the structure’s integrity over the producing life year.
of the field,” it said. Final investment decisions (FIDs) on both
Equinor’s plan is to produce oil from the schemes, collectively known as the Snohvit
FPSO for 30 years. Future project, are targeted for the second half
PSA said its investigation aimed to find out of 2021. Aibel’s FEED contract has an option for
why the weld faults and analysis errors had not engineering, procurement, construction and
been spotted earlier, in order to learn lessons for installation (EPCI) work.
the future. “With the Snohvit Future project we aim to
Castberg, comprising three discoveries made ensure future value creation from the Snohvit
in 2011, 2012 and 2014, is estimated to hold field and to deliver on our ambitions for emis-
between 400 and 650mn barrels of proven oil. Its sion reductions in Norway,” Equinor said in a
budget is NOK50bn ($5.6bn), after Equinor was statement. “The Snohvit field contains enough
able to halve it by taking advantage of low costs gas to maintain production beyond 2050, and
after the 2014 oil price crash. Equinor has a 50% Hammerfest LNG will secure jobs for many
stake in the project, while partners Var Energi years to come.”
and Petoro hold 30% and 20%. Snohvit is one of only two fields in production
in the Barents Sea, the other one being the Goliat
Plans at Hammerfest oil deposit. It came on stream when the 7.6bn
Castberg is around 100 km north of cubic metre per year Hammerfest LNG started
Equinor’s Snohvit field, which supplies gas operations in 2007. ™

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 10•September•2020