made in 2017 after BG Group delayed a final investment decision on the
project in October 2014.
The field will likely be tied-back to ConocoPhillips’ J-Block facilities
or Shell’s Shearwater platform. BP is currently screening development
options for the Marconi-Vorlich discovery, made in October 2014, with
a tieback development thought to be preferred. If these projects do
go-ahead, it could offer some relief to the subsea sector, which has hit a
particularly lean spell of North Sea demand.
TheNorwegianContinental Shelf
Plenty of opportunity also exists across the border on the Norwegian
Continental Shelf (NCS). The success story of the Johan Sverdrup field
is well documented and the US$15.3 billion project has recently seen
the award of three platform contracts worth approximately US$2 billion
combined.
Statoil is also developing its AastaHansteen project in theNorth
Sea. The project has been hit with several delays, most recently due to
the slowprogress on the construction of the complex Spar platform.
Previous concerns for the project have included the cancellation of the
Zidane development, which has led to AastaHansteen facing excessive
transport tariffs in the Polarled Pipeline. This has left the government relying
on newdiscoveries to be able to secure acceptable returns fromthe project.
With this, Statoil proceeded to announce three new discoveries in
the vicinity of Aasta Hansteen within the space of four months. Statoil
first announced the Snefrid North discovery in March 2015, then the
Roald Rygg discovery in April and then recently the Gymir prospect,
announced in June. The estimated total volumes in the three recent
discoveries amount to 75 - 120 million boe, corresponding to about one
third of the Aasta Hansteen recoverable volumes.
Statoil also recently submitted a development plan for the Shetland
and Lista discoveries in theNorwegianNorth Sea. The two findswill be
tapped as subsea tiebacks to existing field facilities at Gullfaks A. It is
estimated that the two discoveries hold a combined 40 to 150million boe.
Themid-range estimate of around 95million boewouldmore than double
remaining reserves at the Gullfaks field and enable its producing lifetime to
be extended beyond the scheduled 2030.
The marginal field project marks only the third such plan to be
submitted to the authorities this year, following the Johan Sverdrup and
Maria schemes, as oil companies have put the brakes on development
spending due to cost-cutting and low oil prices.
Earlier this year, Statoil also gained approval from the authorities
to proceed with the US$570 million development of the Rutil gas and
condensate field as part of its Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen fast-track project,
which will further boost resource recovery at Gullfaks.
Statoil has proven itself to be at the vanguard of subsea development.
One of the company’s goals is to achieve the first subsea factory. This target
is gaining ground and quickly becoming a reality aswork on the Asgard and
Gullfaks subsea gas compression projects drive further ahead. Asgard is
expected to start-up inQ3 of this year, followed by Gullfaks inQ4.
Subsea gas compression is a crucial step towards a full subsea factory,
as it gives the operator the ability to control production flow, separate oil
andwater and inject water back, all fromthe sea floor. While these projects
are the first of their kind, it is hoped that further use of such technologywill
becomewidespread, giving further encouragement to the subseamarket.
Opportunities remain
While there are many problems for the upstream industry in the
North Sea, there also remains plenty of opportunity for those willing
to make the necessary sacrifices. The cost of drilling rigs has fallen
greatly over the last fewmonths, relieving pressure on vital, but
expensive, exploration and appraisal activity – essential if the estimated
24 billion bbls remaining on the UKCS are to be recovered.
Created and produced by
Register now
Your platform for the future
Supported by
Stay in touch
@NavingoOE #OEEC
Facebook.com/OffshoreEnergy
Offshore Energy Amsterdam
+31 (0)10 2092600
