Aker BP produces first oil from Ivar Aasen field

Norwegian oil and gas player Aker BP on Saturday, December 24 produced first oil from the Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea, offshore Norway. 

Aker BP, the operator of the field, said on Saturday that the start-up was according to the plan and the development was completed within budget.

First oil from the Ivar Aasen field comes four years after the Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) was submitted. The plan was to start up production in fourth quarter 2016.

CEO of Aker BP, Karl Johnny Hersvik, said: “The start-up is a major milestone for Aker BP. As operator, we have completed the development in a challenging period for the industry. It is therefore satisfying that we have delivered within budget and on time. For me it is even more important that the project has been carried out without any serious incidents.”

According to the company, the economic life of Ivar Aasen field may be 20 years, depending on oil prices and production development. Operations will be run from an operations center in Trondheim.

Hersvik added: “There are still major challenges in our industry, and continuous improvement in the way we operate is essential. Aker BP is well positioned to meet these challenges in partnership with our suppliers.”

The Utsira area

The Ivar Aasen field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, about 175 km west of Karmøy, and contains around 186 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), excluding Hanz. The latter will be developed in phase two of Ivar Aasen development, and amounts to about 18 million barrels of oil equivalent. Net Aker BP, including Hanz, represents approximately 71 million boe.

The development of the Ivar Aasen includes deposits for five licenses, 001B, PL028 B, PL242, PL338 and PL457. The unitization of the licenses covers deposits in Ivar Aasen and West Cable. Hanz deposit in license PL028 B is not covered by the unitization.

This is a coordinated development with the neighboring field Edvard Grieg. Oil and gas from Ivar Aasen is processed and exported from the Grieg platform, which also supplies power to Ivar Aasen.

This summer the topside of about 15,000 tons was lifted into place on the field. During the last six months, between 400 and 500 people have been working offshore to prepare for production start-up.

A substantial proportion of the deliveries for the project came from Norway, and the main part of the platform deck was built in Singapore. The living quarters, which was lifted onto the deck, was built at Stord. The chassis, built in Sardinia, was installed in summer 2015. Altogether, over five thousand people worked on the construction of Ivar Aasen.

The partners in the field are Aker BP with 34.7862% interest, Statoil with 41.4730%, Bayerngas Norway with 12.3173%, Wintershall Norway with 6.4651%, VNG Norway with 3.0230%, Lundin Norway with 1.3850%, and Okea with 0.5540% interest.