Skip to main content

New development concept on Oseberg

Published by , Editorial Assistant
Oilfield Technology,



The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for Vestflanken 2 which was submitted in December 2015, nine km from the Oseberg field centre in the northern part of the North Sea, won approval from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy this Tuesday. Vestflanken 2 is the first of three planned phases for development of the remaining reserves in the Oseberg area. This project will help extend the life of the Oseberg field, which has been in production since 1988.

The development solution chosen for Oseberg Vestflanken 2 is an unmanned wellhead facility resting on the seabed. This platform will have no process equipment, living quarters, drilling facilities or helicopter deck. The wells on the field will be drilled with a mobile drilling unit, while maintenance will be performed with a support vessel with adapted gangway drawing up alongside the platform.

A tested concept

This concept is new on the Norwegian shelf, but common on the Danish and Dutch shelves.

Initial costing forecasts from the operator Statoil and partners Petoro, Total and ConocoPhillips have estimated the development cost at NOK 8.2 billion (2015). This investment will enable the production of 17.6 million m3 of oil equivalents (around 110 million boe/d). Of the reserves, the oil makes up nearly 10 million m3 (62 million bbls), while the gas reserves amount to 7.8 billion m3. The reservoirs are located between 2400 and 3100 m below the sea surface.

The wellhead facility has ten well slots. To increase the recovery of oil, two of the slots will be used to inject gas. In addition, two production wells will be drilled from an existing subsea template on the Vestflanken. Further injection will take place by bringing in gas through a new pipeline from the gas injection system which already exists in this area. The wells on Vestflanken 2 will be controlled from the Oseberg field centre, where the oil and gas will also be processed.


Related articles: http://www.npd.no/en/news/News/2015/Oseberg-West-Flank-to-be-developed/


Source: NPD

 

Adapted from a press release by Louise Mulhall

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/16062016/new-development-concept-on-oseberg/

You might also like

 
 

Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below):


 

This article has been tagged under the following:

Oil & gas news