Norwegian official opens Statoil’s Valemon

April 16, 2015
Norwegian Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien has officially opened Statoil’s Valemon gas and condensate field.

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, NorwayNorwegian Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien has officially opened Statoil’s Valemon gas and condensate field, located 160 km (100 mi) off Bergen in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Expected recoverable reserves from the field are 192 MMboe.

This is the first new Bergen-operated platform sinceKvitebjørn was brought onstream 10 years ago.

Condensate fromValemon will be piped to Kvitebjørn for processing and then forwarded to Mongstad, while the gas will be transported to Heimdal for processing and then sent to the market.

Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil’s executive vice president for Development & Production Norway, said that the Valemon field will extend the life of surrounding North Sea installations.

“Valemon is thereby extending the life of Heimdal, which was scheduled to be shut down in 2014, as a gas hub in this part of the North Sea,” says Nylund.

By using existing facilities on Kvitebjørn and Heimdal, as well as existing pipelines, the Valemon field development costs were reduced.

Valemon’s 9,750-metric ton (10,747-ton)topsides was constructed in South Korea, marking the first time Statoil awarded an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a topsides to an Asian shipyard.

Production from Valemon began in January 2015. Statoil operates the project with 53.775% working interest, and partners with Petoro AS (30%), Centrica Resources (Norge) AS (13%), and A/S Norske Shell (3.224%).

04/16/2015