NPD Grants Consent for the Expansion of Nyhamna Gas Plant

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted consent for the expansion of the gas plant at Nyhamna, in Møre og Romsdal County, which will allow the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea to increase production by 25-30 billion standard cubic meters of gas.

The Nyhamna expansion consists of two main parts. The first, expansion of the gas plant, includes the land-based compression of gas from Ormen Lange. A new compressor will maintain gas pressure at Nyhamna as pressure in the reservoir drops.

The second part includes export and process facilities for the Polarled pipeline. This pipeline will transport gas from the future Aasta Hansteen field to Nyhamna.

Polarled compression and export are scheduled to start in the autumn of 2018. Gas from the Dvalin field – with planned start-up in the autumn of 2020 – will also be transported through Polarled.

"This is a large and important project for improved recovery and onshore compression is the first step. The next step is compression closer to the field," Kalmar Ildstad, NPD assistant director of development and operations in the Norwegian Sea, said.

Shell is the operator of the Ormen Lange field (17.81 percent). Other licensees are Petoro (36.48), Statoil (25.35), Dong (14.02) and ExxonMobil (6.34).