Statoil: Offshore upgrades to unlock 180 million barrels of oil

The upgrading of the Oseberg B drilling facilities in the Norwegian North Sea has been completed, and drilling from the new plant starts in June, Norwegian oil company Statoil today announced.

Statoil is upgrading the drilling facilities on several installations in order to increase the fields’ value creation and productive life. Efforts to allow more wells to be drilled generate considerable additional production volume, and thus represent our main improved oil recovery measure.  The three projects that have been run recently, Oseberg B, Gullfaks B and Snorre A, alone will add 180 million additional barrels of oil.

New wells (producers) enable interventions, revitalisation of existing wells – and thus enhanced recovery.

For Oseberg the goal is to extend the productive life by 25 years compared with original plans, whereas Gullfaks B’s productive life has been extended to 2032, and Snorre A’s to 2040.

The upgrade of the Statfjord B and C drilling facilities two years ago was a significant element of the Statfjord Late Life project, reconstructing the platforms from oil producers to gas producers.

The reconstruction was carried out while the platforms were in full production.

The project adds 50 million barrels of extra oil and 25 million standard cubic metres of extra gas.

The Oseberg C and Veslefrikk platforms have also been upgraded.

“Statoil is operating many large fields that came on stream in the 1980s and 1990s. Aiming at a recovery factor of 60% on the Norwegian continental shelf we want to see more of this type of modifications in the time ahead,” says Ivar Aasheim, senior vice president for field development in Statoil.

“Besides contributing to sensible and responsible resource management, drilling plant upgrades will significantly extend the fields’ productive life and allow small-size producers in the areas around the mature fields to be tied in.”​

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