More gas for Europe as Shell turns on the taps at Norwegian field’s next chapter

UK-headquartered energy giant Shell has brought online a new phase of its natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea, which is set to augment the amount of gas recovered from the asset, bolstering Europe’s energy security.

Shell’s Ormen Lange phase III project has started production, adding additional gas volumes to Europe, thanks to two subsea compression stations, which aim to increase field recovery from 75% to 85%. Four well frames have been installed on the field, each with a capacity to accommodate eight wells.

Based on the plan for development and operation (PDO), the subsea compression will recover an additional 30-50 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gross gas production from the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea, 120 kilometers from the onshore processing and export facility at Nyhamna.

Shell is the operator (17.8%) of the field, with Vår Energi (6.3%), Petoro (36.5%), Equinor Energy (25.3%), and Orlen Upstream Norway (14%) as partners. The gas from Ormen Lange is exported to European markets through Langeled and the Norwegian gas export system.

Shell’s partner, Vår Energi, claims that the third phase has been launched ahead of plan and below budget, seeing the milestone as “an important contributor” to reaching the company’s target of producing more than 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the fourth quarter this year.

The compression system was planned to be powered by two 120-kilometer-long cables connected to the Norwegian grid, which is mostly powered by renewable energy. As a result, the operator expects this to lower the carbon intensity of Ormen Lange phase III’s gas production process compared with a similar facility powered by fossil fuels.

“Ormen Lange is one of Norway’s most complex and technologically demanding field developments. No other Norwegian field produces from such deep water, under such harsh conditions and with such advanced equipment. The gas from Ormen Lange covers up to 20% of the UK’s gas needs,” underlined Shell.

After the license partners decided on offshore compression for the Ormen Lange field in 2021, they secured approval in July 2022, enabling two compressor stations handling rich gas to be installed on the seabed near the wellheads to produce an additional 30-50 billion cubic meters of natural gas, ramping up the field’s recovery rate.

This asset is described as Norway’s second-largest gas field, situated at a depth of 850 to 1,100 meters. According to Shell, Ormen Lange has no platform or installations on the sea surface, as all offshore production equipment is on the seabed, approximately 120 kilometers northwest of Kristiansund in the Norwegian Sea.

Once the well stream from Ormen Lange is processed at Nyhamna, the gas is exported through Langeled, which has a receiving point in Easington, England, but this gas can also be routed elsewhere via a hub in the North Sea.

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