Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway — The Njord Field in the Norwegian Sea will be officially opened by the minister of petroleum and energy, Terje Aasland, on May 15. The platform and the floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO) have undergone extensive upgrades and are now ready for doubling the field life, the company says, and more than doubling production.
“With the war in Ukraine, the export of Norwegian oil and gas to Europe has never been more important than now. Reopening Njord contributes to Norway remaining a stable supplier of gas to Europe for many years to come,” Aasland said.
The Njord Field started production in 1997 and was originally supposed to produce until 2013. However, systematic work with increased recovery means that there are still large volumes of oil and gas left. New discoveries in the area can also be produced and exported via Njord.
In 2016 the platform and FSO were disconnected from the field and towed to shore for extensive upgrades. In later December, production resumed from the Njord Field.
“This is the first time a platform and an FSO have been disconnected from the field, upgraded and towed back offshore. We have now doubled the field life,” said Grete B. Haaland, Equinor’s senior vice president for E&P north. “It has been a big and demanding job, partly carried out during a pandemic, and I would like to thank everyone involved in preparing Njord for continuing its supply of oil and gas to the market. With the prices we anticipate in the coming years this comprehensive upgrading project will be repaid in just under two years after startup.”
It is not just the field life that has been doubled. The ambition is also to double production and produce about the same volume from Njord as it has produced so far, about 250 MMboe.
Ten new wells will be drilled on Njord from an upgraded drilling facility, discoveries have previously been made in the Njord area and more exploration will be carried out close to the field.
In addition, two new subsea fields have already been tied back to Njord. On April 8, the Equinor-operated Bauge Field started its production, while the Fenja subsea field, operated by Njord partner Neptune Energy, came onstream on April 27. Recoverable volumes from the two fields combined are 110 MMboe.
Plans call for future partial electrification of the Njord Field based on power from shore via the Norwegian Sea Draugen platform, thereby reducing annual CO2 emissions by about 130,000 tonnes.
The Njord licensees are Wintershall Dea Norge AS (50%), Equinor Energy AS (27.5%, operator) and Neptune Energy Norge AS (22.5%).
The Njord Area will provide Neptune with net production of 30,000 boe/d.
The recent startup of Fenja makes Njord Neptune’s second largest producing hub in Norway and aligns with our strategy for production with low unit cost and low CO2 intensity.”
05.15.2023
