Harbour Energy flows first oil from subsea tie-back in Norwegian waters

London-listed oil and gas company Harbour Energy has brought online a subsea tie-back to its existing infrastructure off the coast of Norway, as part of a major revitalization of an oil field in the Norwegian Sea.

TechnipFMC secured an integrated engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (iEPCI) contract for the Maria Phase 2 project in April 2022. The company’s heavy subsea construction vessel, North Sea Atlantic, transported a 330-ton template in 2023 from Vestbase in Kristiansund in mid-Norway some 200 kilometers to the Maria field in the Norwegian Sea, where it was installed 300 meters below the sea surface.

The original plan for the Maria Phase 2 project envisioned the installation of a new six-slot template and four new wells in the southern part of the Maria field, which was developed with two templates and came on stream in 2017.

An amended plan for development and production (PDO) for Maria Phase 2, including a new template and four wells, was approved in June 2023. The project’s next phase is expected to add around 22 million barrels of oil equivalent to the total field reserves.

Germany’s Wintershall Dea used to be the operator of the Maria field before Harbour Energy acquired all upstream business assets that used to belong to the German firm, aside from the ones in Russia. The UK-headquartered player disclosed in March 2025 that the first oil from the Maria Phase 2 project was anticipated during summer 2025.

However, Harbour Energy announced the start-up of oil production on May 23, 2025, from the first of four wells that are part of this four-well subsea tie-back project to existing infrastructure at the Maria field. According to the company, the production from the first well was delivered safely on time and budget.

Michael Zechner, Managing Director of Harbour’s Norway Business Unit, commented: “Maria Phase 2 builds on Harbour’s track record of developing high return, short cycle projects using existing infrastructure. This marks the first of the next wave of subsea developments we are bringing on-stream to support production from our Norway business.”

The remaining three wells are scheduled to follow suit over the coming months. The field is expected to continue with hydrocarbon production until 2040. The partners in Maria Phase 2 are Harbour (50%, operator), Petoro (30%), and Sval Energi (20%). The Maria well stream goes to the Kristin platform.

The water injection comes from Heidrun, while lift gas is provided from Åsgard B via the Tyrihans subsea field. The processed oil is sent to the Åsgard field for storage and export. On the other hand, gas is exported via the Åsgard Transport System to Kårstø.

Harbour Energy, which is actively working on boosting its global oil and gas arsenal, found hydrocarbons at a prospect it drilled last year in the Central North Sea on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), after making a new gas discovery in the Norwegian Sea.