Equinor has awarded multiple contracts to five companies for four new subsea projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, with a combined value of about NOK6 billion ($610 million) for four subsea projects.

Targeting faster, lower-cost subsea developments

Gunnar Nakken, SVP for projects and subsea on the NCS, said:

“We envisage around 75 subsea developments towards 2035. To realise these resources, we need to develop smaller discoveries faster and at a lower cost than today. This requires significant changes in how we plan and execute subsea projects. Our ambition is to halve both costs and execution time through simpler processes and standardized solutions together with our partners and suppliers.”

Equinor expects the four projects to contribute up to 220 MMboe to its future production.

Chief Procurement Officer Jannicke Nilsson added:

“We are…giving suppliers the opportunity to deliver on several projects at the same time. It is essential to reduce costs, and the response from the industry confirms significant improvement potential.”

Contractors selected for first wave of projects

1. TechnipFMC will supply subsea production systems for the Brime, Omega Sør and Tyrihans Nord projects, and it will also install rigid pipelines on the Troll Field.
2. Tenaris will provide the linepipe.
3. OneSubsea will deliver the subsea production system for the TWIN development and umbilicals for all the projects.
4. Ocean Installer, which will oversee marine operations, will install and connect the subsea facilities, control cables and flexible pipelines.
5. Finally, NOV will manufacture flexible pipelines for Omega Sør, Tyrihans Nord and Brime.

Nakken explained:

“This is equipment with long lead times, so we need to invest early if we are to halve the time from discovery to production. We order standard equipment that can be used by later projects if one of the projects in the first wave is not sanctioned by the partnership or approved by the authorities.”

Four tieback projects move forward

The four subsea projects are:

1. TWIN, a tieback to Troll A;
2. Omega Sør, a tieback to Snorre A;
3. Tyrihans Nord, which will produce via the Kristin platform; and
4. Brime, a planned tieback to Gullfaks C via the existing Visund Sør seabed template.

TWIN (Troll West increased gas recovery North), which is the only one of the four projects to have been sanctioned by the partners, will be the third step in a phased development of the Troll West gas cap. It should recover about 11 Bcm of gas.

Equinor recently submitted the development plan to the Norwegian authorities. It includes two wells in a new template and a pipeline connected to existing subsea facilities. The gas will be produced via Troll A before heading onshore to Kollsnes.

The other projects remain in the early phase of planning.

At Brime, four wells will be drilled from the Visund Sør template with the wellstream, mainly gas, sent to Gullfaks C for processing before being transported to Kårstø for export.

A phased development of Nøkken could follow via sidetracks from two of the wells at Brime. Equinor estimates Brime’s recoverable volumes in the range 16–34 MMboe.

Omega Sør, a recent oil discovery close to the Snorre Field, could contain 25-89 MMbbl. Here, investments will include a new template and a Cap-X production satellite connected to existing subsea facilities.

The oil will be sent via Snorre A to the Gullfaks complex.

Tyrihans Nord, a 1984 20-30 MMboe gas-condensate discovery in the Norwegian Sea, will feature two wells in a new template connected to the production pipeline between the Tyrihans subsea field and the Kristin semisubmersible platform.  

This year’s Sissel discovery (6 MMboe to 28 MMboe) could be included in the program, with plans to drill the well through the Utgard template in the North Sea.