Norway: ExxonMobil to shut down Jotun field

ExxonMobil is reportedly planning to shut down production at the Jotun field offshore Norway by plugging 22 production wells, starting in April 2016. 

The Jotun field is located in the North Sea, 200 km west of Stavanger. Water depth at the site is 126 metres. The field was developed with two installations, a wellhead platform Jotun B and a production vessel Jotun A.

According to Offshore.no, a Norwegian news website, the well plugging will be performed with a modular drilling rig mounted on Jotun B platform. It will start in April 2016 and will be completed during 2017. The news agency also reported that ExxonMobil plans to get rid of the field installations whereby the platform will be taken apart and the FPSO will be reused on another location.

ExxonMobil is the operator of the field with 45% interest, while its partners Dana Petroleum, Det norske and Faroe Petroleum have 45%, 7% and 3%, respectively.

The field started production in 1999 and was expected to finish in 2015. However, ExxonMobil estimated that Jotun would be able to produce until around 2021, and considered to prolong the use of the field’s installations. In June 2015, the operator of the field received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority to use the facilities on the Jotun field beyond the originally planned lifetime.

The average production rate in 2014 was 2,100 oil equivalent barrels per day. According to the company, Jotun production has been on the decline over the last few years, thus resulting in spare production capacity. In order to utilize this capacity, the Balder field, also in the North Sea, has been connected to Jotun via a gas pipeline, while pipelines were installed between Ringhorne and Jotun thereafter, allowing parts of the Ringhorne field to produce to the Jotun FPSO, in addition to the Balder FPSO.

Offshore Energy Today Staff