New compressor to boost Kvitebjørn field production

A new compressor will help boost the recovery rate and accelerate production on the Kvitebjørn field, offshore Norway, Statoil has said.

According to the oil company, the new compressor contributes to an increase in the recovery rate at the Kvitebjørn field offshore Norway from 55% to 70%.

Valuable modules

The compressor project is making a substantial contribution to the increased recovery of gas resources from the field, which has increased its reserves by 50% since the plan for development and operation was submitted in 2000.

The extra barrels from the compressor are equivalent to a medium-sized, separately developed field.

“Many people don’t realise that these relatively small modules are able to contribute as much or more value as new fields and that they cost much less to develop because the platform is already in place,” explains Statoil brownfield projects senior vice president Terese Kvinge.

The reason why the new compressor is being installed on a field that has been in production for some years is that pressure in the reservoir has gradually fallen as the oil and gas have been produced. By lowering the pressure on the platform, more can be produced.

The compressor module was built by Bergen Group Rosenberg (now Rosenberg Worley Parson Group) in Stavanger. The 1000-tonne module was lifted into position during the summer of 2013.

This is the first phase of pre-compression on Kvitebjørn, but space has been left in the new module for a potential second pre-compression phase as well.

Kvitebjørn value chain

Rich gas and condensate (light oil) from Kvitebjørn are piped to Kollsnes near Bergen and Mongstad further north respectively.

After processing at Kollsnes, the dry gas is piped to continental Europe. The separated NGL is transported by pipeline to the Vestprosess plant at Mongstad for fractionation into propane, butanes and naphtha.

Condensate travels through the Kvitebjørn Oil Pipeline, which ties into the Troll Oil Pipeline II to Mongstad.