Page 16 - Euroil Week 19 2020

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Wintershall clears milestone at Nova field
GERMANY
Wintershall will use the Neptune-operated Gjoa platform to develop Nova.
A topside module has been lifted onto the Gjoa platform in the Norwegian North Sea, as part of German firm Wintershall Dea’s Nova subsea tie- back project.
Gjoa’s operator, UK-based Neptune Energy, said in a statement on May 11 that the 740-tonne module had been put in place by the world’s larg- est crane vessel, Heerema Marine Contractors’ Sleipnir ship, during a three-hour operation.
The Nova field’s development will help Nep- tune extend the service life of the Gjoa platform, the company said.
“This impressive heavy-lift marks the begin- ning of a new era for the Gjoa platform,” Nep- tune’s managing director in Norway, Odin Estensen, commented. “The Nova field adds valuable resources, prolongs the life of the plat- form and increases the profitability of Gjoa’s own production. Electrified with hydropower from shore, Gjoa is becoming the efficient, low-carbon hub she was designed to be.”
Wintershall operates Nova with a 45% stake, with its partners comprising the UK’s Spirit Energy (20%), Italy’s Edison (15%) and Norway’s Sval Energi and the Netherlands’ One-Dyas,
each with 10%.
The German operator opted for a tieback to
Gjoa, some 17 km away, in order to cut costs. Nova is due on stream in 2021 and will con- sist of two templates. From Gjoa, its oil will be delivered to Norway’s Mongstad terminal using the Troll Oil Pipeline 2, while its gas will be shipped via the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) pipeline to St Fergus in the UK.
Neptune has a 30% interest in Gjoa, while Norway’s Petoro also has 30%, Wintershall has 28% and Norway’s Okea has 12%. The field’s platform is also due to host production from Neptune’s Duva and Gjoa P1 fields at a later stage.
Wintershall has already made several advances in the North Sea this year. In February it launched the Sillimanite gas field straddling the border between the UK and Dutch sectors of the North Sea, where it is partnered with Rus- sia’s Gazprom. Last month it also struck oil at the Bergknapp prospect in the Norwegian Sea, estimating the find to hold up to 97mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in initial recoverable resources.™
Eni, Total energy firms postpone drilling in East Med
CYPRUS
Eni and Total will postpone the workdue to economic difficulties caused by COVID-19.
ENERGY giants Eni and Total are reported to have postponed their proposed gas exploration operations in the Eastern Mediterranean for about a year.
The companies notified the Greek Cypriot Administration about their decision to delay their drilling operations until March or April 2021, the administration’s spokesman, Kyriacos Koushios, said.
However, the companies will not cancel the capital expenditure allocated to the drills, which Koushios described as “good news.”
Before the coronavirus (COVID-19) out- break, Eni and Total had earlier announced their plan to start exploratory drilling in what they called “Block 6” in early February. The Greek Politis newspaper reported on April 14
that drilling work in the so-called 6th parcel, planned by an Eni and Total consortium at the end of April, would be postponed due to eco- nomic difficulties caused by COVID-19.
In mid-April ExxonMobil had likewise told the Greek administration that it would postpone a planned drill in so-called Block 10, which was rescheduled to start in September 2021. The company also said it had pushed back to Sep- tember 2021 an appraisal (or follow-up) well at the Glafcos site in Block 10.
The Glafcos reservoir, comprising an estimated 5 to 8 trillion cubic feet (142-227bn cubic metres) of gas, is the largest gas discovery to date off Cyprus. The appraisal drilling there – initially scheduled for this summer – would have helped the company with its commercialisation decision.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 19 14•May•2020