OTC 2014: Statoil plans more horizontal drilling at Troll oil field

May 8, 2014
Statoil is looking to produce 2.1 Bbbl of oil from the Troll field in the Norwegian North Sea.

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Statoil is looking to produce 2.1 Bbbl of oil from the Troll field in the Norwegian North Sea.

SinceTroll came onstream in 1995 the development has cost NOK 46 billion ($7.83 billion) and has delivered 1.5 Bbbl so far via the Troll B and C platforms. The field also contains around 40% of Norway’s gas reserves.

The partners plan to maintain a high level of investment for a long time to come, Statoil said.

In order to recover oil from the reservoir’s thin, tilted layers Statoil and its contractors have developed technology to drill horizontal wells to around 1,320 m (4,330 ft) below the seafloor, where they are split into two to four branches.

Each branch extends around 3,000-4,000 m (9,842-13,123 ft) horizontally into the reservoir. In total, more than 1 million m (3.28 million ft) have been drilled in the reservoir from 180 production wells.

Kjetil Hove, senior vp for operations North Sea east in Development and Production Norway, said Troll produced 124,000 b/d of oil last year. Four rigs are currently operating on the field, and up to 250 horizontal producers will be drilled through 2020.

Statoil’s partners are Petoro, Shell, Total, and ConocoPhillips.

05/08/2014