Equinor Announces $343MM North Sea Field Investment

Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) has announced that it and its license partners have decided to invest $343 million (NOK 3 billion) in the North Sea Statfjord Ost field to improve recovery by 23 million barrels of oil equivalent.

As part of the project, a total of four new wells will be drilled from existing subsea templates between 2022 and 2024. The project also includes modifications on Statfjord C and a new pipeline for gas lift. Production start is scheduled for 2024.

Statfjord Ost is tied back to the Statfjord C platform by pipelines. Written notification of material changes to the plan for development and operation for Statfjord Ost was submitted to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy earlier this month.

“The decision to improve recovery on Statfjord Ost will add considerable value to society and owners and will create positive effects for suppliers,” Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s senior vice president for field life extension, said in a company statement.

“Our ambition is to maintain safe and profitable production and secure valuable activity from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) for several decades,” Hove added.

“We will be a leading late life operator on the NCS. In order to achieve this, we must work in new ways to reduce costs, thereby offering new opportunities for investments in late life fields ensuring profitable reservoir management. The Statfjord Ost decision is a good example of this,” Hove went on to state.

The original oil volume in place on Statfjord Ost was 415 million barrels of oil, according to Equinor, which notes that the current recovery factor is 56 percent. As a result of this project, the recovery factor is expected to hit 62 percent. Statfjord Ost is located three miles north-east of Statfjord C. The field came on stream in 1994.

The license partners in Statfjord Ost comprise Equinor, which holds a 31.6875 percent interest, Petoro AS, which holds a 30 percent stake, Var Energi AS, which holds a 20.55 percent stake, Spirit Energy Norway AS, which holds an 11.5625 percent interest, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS, which holds a 4.8 percent interest, and Wintershall Dea Norge AS, which holds a 1.4 percent stake.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com