Statoil Plans More Fast-track Projects (Norway)

This will be the year Statoil is planning and realising several fast-track developments on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Two new projects are being launched these days, namely Gamma/Harepus and Snorre B template.

A plan for development and operation (PDO) of Gamma/Harepus is to be submitted in first quarter 2012, allowing production start-up in the fourth quarter of 2013, at the same time as the Snorre B template.

“The time has really come to industrialise the NCS by moving faster from concept to development,” says Ivar Aasheim, head of the field development cluster of Development and Production Norway (DPN).

An active year

“We have come a long way in one year,” he says.

“The concept has been established, deliveries with long delivery time have been secured for the first projects, construction of modules has started, and new candidates are continuously being included in our portfolio. We aim to have close to five fields in operation at the turn of the year 2012/2013 and to maintain this level in the years ahead.”

After submitting the PDO for Visund South in January the list of planned fast-track projects is as follows: Visund South, Katla, Vigdis North-East, Gygrid, Fossekall and Dompap, Vilje South, Visund North, Gamma/Harepus and Snorre B template.

Unique position

“We have a unique position on the NCS as operator of a large part of the infrastructure in the established areas, allowing us to establish robust and profitable solutions for marginal fields that would otherwise not have been developed,” underlines Aasheim. “But this requires greater awareness of costs and standardised solutions.”

This is the beginning of a new era on the NCS, as we move from large and tailored solutions to standardised solutions and work processes to achieve economies of scale,” maintains Aasheim.

Plans call for Gamma/Harepus to be tied back to the Mikkel and Åsgard fields.

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Source: Statoil, March 29, 2011