Statoil brings Byrding field online

Oil giant Statoil has started production on the Byrding oil and gas field, which is north of the Troll field in the North Sea off Norway. 

The Plan for Development and Operation of the Byrding oil and gas discovery, previously known as Astero, was submitted to Norwegian authorities in August 2016. According to plans, Byrding will remain on stream for 8-10 years.

Statoil said on Friday that recoverable volumes in Byrding are estimated at a good 11 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The Byrding development includes a two-branch multilateral well drilled from the existing Fram H-Nord subsea template, through which oil and gas are flowing to Troll C. The multilateral well is around seven kilometers long and is split in two branches after a few kilometers.

After processing on Troll C, the oil is routed in existing pipelines to Mongstad and the gas via Troll A to Kollsnes.

According to Statoil, the partners have invested around NOK one billion ($126M) in Byrding, which is a reduction from the original estimate of around NOK 3.5 billion ($441M).

“Good utilization of existing infrastructure has resulted in a cost-effective development that will add profitable resources to the Troll field,” says Gunnar Nakken, senior vice president for the operations west cluster in Statoil.

Statoil is the operator of the Byrding field with 70% interest, its partners are Engie E&P Norge with 15% and Idemitsu Petroleum Norge, also with 15% interest.

Statoil increased its share in Byrding from 45% to 70% when it acquired Wintershall Norge’s share of 25% in October 2016.