$2 billion North Sea project unlocking new oil & gas barrels

Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor and its partners have unveiled plans to pour more than NOK 21 billion ($2.09 billion) in a new subsea development, combining several discoveries in the northern part of the North Sea that will export oil and gas via an existing platform located off the coast of Norway.

While disclosing the submission of a plan for development and operation (PDO) to Terje Aasland, Norway’s Minister of Energy, for the Fram Sør combined development of several discoveries that will export oil and gas via the Troll C platform, Equinor emphasized that the project would enable more oil and gas to be sent to Europe from the Fram and Troll area.

Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s Executive Vice President of Projects, Drilling & Procurement, commented: “Fram Sør will contribute to security of energy supply from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) to Europe. The development will put new oil and gas resources on stream by connecting new infrastructure to existing facilities that provide good and robust profitability.

“With the host platform Troll C being powered from shore, the production from Fram Sør will have very low emissions. The project will generate activity for the Norwegian supply industry, with an estimated employment effect of 4,500 full-time equivalents (FTEs) during the development period.”

With recoverable volumes estimated at 116 million barrels of oil equivalent, 75% oil and 25% gas, project start-up is scheduled for the end of 2029. As the CO2 intensity for the Fram Sør development is estimated at around 0.5 kg of CO₂ per barrel of oil equivalent, the average for the NCS is 8 kg, while the industry average is about 16 kg per barrel of oil equivalent (IOGP 2023).

Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s Executive Vice President for Exploration & Production Norway, remarked: “We have done a thorough job maturing the new resources discovered in the Fram and Troll area in recent years.

“Fram Sør shows the importance of area solutions and close collaboration between partners and authorities in order to realise the resource values on a mature NCS. We have a large portfolio of projects that will phase in discoveries to our producing fields. Equinor expects to put more than 50 such projects on stream by 2035.”

Furthermore, Equinor’s Echino South oil and gas discovery in the Fram area of the North Sea, made in 2019, was interpreted to support the belief that more oil could be found, contributing to nine discoveries made in the Troll-Fram area over four years. The Norwegian player made the Blasto discovery in 2021, which, together with two smaller discoveries in previous years, forms the basis for Fram Sør.

The operator describes the Fram Sør field development as technologically groundbreaking and the first on the NCS, which will use all-electric Christmas trees that eliminate the need for hydraulic fluid supplied from the platform and improve monitoring capabilities of the subsea equipment, reducing the risk of environmental impact.

The investment in this development will contribute to the Norwegian supply industry both in the development and operation phases, as illustrated by a ripple effect study conducted by Kunnskapsparken in Bodø, which spotlights an employment effect of 4,500 full-time equivalents in Norway through the development period.

While most suppliers have a Norwegian invoice address, some of the construction will take place abroad. The batch of contracts that will be handed out to breathe life into Fram Sør will have a value of about NOK 18 billion ($1.79 billion) and will be subject to regulatory approval. The Fram partners are Equinor Energy (45%), Vår Energi (40%), and Inpex Idemitsu Norge (15%).

The company has completed the front-end engineering and design phase (FEED) with four main suppliers, all of whom have the option to perform the work they have studied. OneSubsea has conducted studies of subsea systems, Subsea7 has explored marine installation, TechnipFMC has explored umbilicals, and Aker Solutions has studied platform modification.

The operator has outlined that contracts will also be awarded during this year for pipe deliveries, fibre optic cable, and rock installation. The project will also need rig capacity. Situated in the northern part of the North Sea, around 20 kilometers north of Troll C and about 120 kilometers northwest of Bergen, Fram Sør is a subsea development with 4 x 4 subsea templates.

While 12 wells are planned for start-up, four well slots will be available for later development in the Fram/Troll area. The water depth in the area is approximately 350 meters, with the reservoir depth between 1,800 – 2,800 meters.

According to Equinor, the subsea templates will be tied back to existing Fram infrastructure and the Troll C platform for processing and export. While the oil from the Fram field is transported through Troll Oil Pipeline II to Mongstad, gas is exported to Kollsnes via the Troll A platform.