Page 13 - EurOil Week 26 2019

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil
Equinor gets greenlight for Vigdis booster
NORWAY
NORWEGIAN oil producer Equinor has had its plan to invest NOK1.4bn ($164mn) in boosting recovery at the o shore Vigdis eld cleared by Oslo authorities.
e state-owned rm is targeting an extra 11mn barrels of oil from the North Sea deposit, which first entered production in 1997. Its scheme involves the installation of a new booster pump on the seabed that will help maintain fall- ing reservoir pressure. is in turn will increase recovery and prop up production.
“Increased recovery can create great value, and Vigdis is a good example of this,” Petro- leum & Energy Ministry State Secretary Rikard Gaarder Knutsen said when announcing the project’s approval. “Now the field gets a new boost.”
Equinor also intends to modify subsea pipe- lines and topside facilities at the Snorre A and B platforms connecting to Vigdis. e new pump, due on online in the rst quarter of 2021, will be supplied with electricity with a new cable from Snorre B.
Vigdis lies within production licence 089, located in the northern part of the North Sea. Equinor operates the block with a 41.5% stake, with the project also involving Norway’s Petoro (30%), ExxonMobil (16.1%), Japan’s Idemitsu Petroleum (9.6%) and Germany’s Wintershall (2.8%).
e Vigdis eld was developed with seven sub- sea templates and two production wells hooked up to Snorre A. Production at the site peaked at more than 86,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 1999 before entering a sharp decline. It picked up again in the mid-2000s, reaching another high point of 74,300 boepd in 2006, before once again beginning to dip.
Equinor hired Schlumberger’s OneSubsea divisioninDecember2018toprovidethesubsea booster pump, under an engineering, procure- ment and construction (EPC) contract. It later selected France’s Nexans to supply the necessary power umbilical. Equinor estimates that the revamp will extend the project’s lifespan beyond 2024.™
Aker BP makes progress at Norwegian block
NORWAY
AKER BP has chalked up a minor oil discovery in the Norwegian North Sea, while also shoring up prospects at one of its earlier nds.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), the 30% BP-owned operator sank two wells at production licence 340, located 225km west of Stavanger, using the Scarabeo-8 drilling facility.
A 4,276-metre wildcat designated 24/9-15 S encountered a vertical oil column measuring 49 metres, with sandy layers totalling around 10 metres. e reservoir uncovered had “very good” properties, the NPD said, noting that it extended into the neighbouring 869 licence. Aker BP estimates its recoverable oil at between 1.9 and 10.0mn barrels.
The second well, 24/9-15 A, was aimed at delimiting the northern boundary of the 2018 Frosk oil discovery, assessed as containing 31.4- 62.9mn barrels of crude. e 3,819-metre bore- hole cut into a 50-metre oil-bearing zone with “very good to extremely good” qualities.
Both wells are designed for test produc- tion. Aker BP aims to start them up in the third
quarter of this year and continue operating them for at least a six-month duration. Output will be transported 27km north to the Alvhiem oating production storage and o oading (FPSO) ves- sel, also controlled by Aker BP.
e Scarabeo-8 will now move on to com- plete a production well at the Marulk eld on production licence 122, operated by Italian-Nor- wegian group Var Enerji.
Aker BP was set up in 2016, when UK major BP transferred its Norwegian business to local operator Det norske in an all-share deal. e company operates ten elds o the Norwegian coasts, and serves as a partner in several more projects.
e company also completed another wildcat well last week at production licence 777, but this one turned up dry. e 4,173-metre borehole, the rst to be drilled at the block, had aimed to identify petroleum reservoirs in Middle Jurassic rock. It will now be plugged and abandoned.
e rig used to complete it, Deepsea Stavan- ger, will now proceed to Aker BP’s production licence 442 to drill the 25/2-20 wildcat.™
Week 26 04•July•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P13