ONS 2010: Trym heading for year-end start

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway --Development drilling is under way at Trym, the first Norwegian/Danish cross-border project. The production scheme involves subsea wells tied back to the Harald platform in the Danish North Sea.

Before DONG Energy assumed operatorship in August 2008, various attempts had been made to develop Trym, all hampered by objections at government level.

DONG E&P President Soren Gath Hansen, speaking at ONS, said the impasse was finally resolved when Denmark agreed to change legislation on oil passing through the pipeline system via Harald. “The Norwegian authorities needed to have a new danish taxation system in place, as they would not accept paying tax on production from one of their fields to a third-part y country.”

Final approval only came through this spring, a year after DONG and its partner Bayerngas with the understanding of the Norwegian authorities had taken the risk of committing to long-lead items for the project, and on the same day that subsea construction had finished. But Hansen explained that delaying the schedule further could have led to problems, including the loss of the slots for the contracted rig Maersk Giant.

DONG is targeting first production right at the end of December. On completing the wells, the same rig will transfer north for development drilling on Oselvar, another new DONG-operated project in the Norwegian sector, involving a subsea tieback to BP’s Ula platform.

Aker Solutions is providing similar subsea production equipment for both projects under its ‘Rapid Soluton’ program. The repeat designs should bring cost benefits to Aker and the field partners.

Hansen adds that both projects are currently on schedule and on budget. The estimated development cost for Trym is $406 million, and for Oselvar, $786 million.

08/26/2010