Partners commit to HP/HT Gudrun development

Offshore staff

STAVANGER -- Statoil and its partners have approved a $3.52 billion development program for the Gudrun field in the North Sea. A development plan will be submitted to the Norwegian North Sea, although one of the major components, the steel jacket, has already been awarded to Aker Verdal.

Gudrun is a high pressure, high temperature field in production license 025, discovered in 1974 in 109 m (357 ft) of water, around 55 km (34 mi) north of Statoil’s Sleipner complex. Estimated reserves are 132 MMboe, of which two-thirds are thought to be oil. According to Statoil, development has been made possible as a result of recent advances in HP/HT production techniques, as applied by the company on the Kvitebjorn and Kristin projects.

The field will be produced via a 16-slot platform supported by a 7,100-metric ton (7,826-ton) jacket, with a 40-cabin living quarters. The platform will be equipped for partial stabilization of oil and gas, with production exported to the Sleipner A facilities. Power will be supplied via a subsea cable from Sleipner East.

Oil and gas will be produced from a Jurassic reservoir with a pressure of up to 820 bar (11,893 psi). Initially, production will come from seven wells, with remaining slots on the platform left free for additional drilling at a later phase on Gudrun or on other fields in the area, which are thought to include Bryhild, Picasso and Draupne/Hanz.

Statoil says invitations to tender will be issued shortly for construction of the topsides, the living quarters, modifications to Sleipner A, heavy-lifting and platform installation, pipeline fabrication and pipelay, and development drilling.

Gudrun is scheduled to come on stream in 2014. Statoil’s partners in the project are Marathon Petroleum and GDF Suez.

2/19/2010