The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has asked the licensees in Draupne and Luno for a unitized development of the two fields. The rationale is that both society and licensees can expect substantial savings with a unitized development solution.
The distance between the two fields is 8 kilometers. The Ministry has made the licensees in PL 001B (Draupne) and PL 338 (Luno) aware that they cannot expect the Ministry´s approval of the plan for development and operation (PDO), unless the benefits of a unitization have been realized.
CEO of Det norske, Erik Haugane, says that a unitized development could make both projects more profitable and mitigate risk for all licensees. Det norske will, as operator of Draupne, initiate a constructive collaboration with Lundin Petroleum, the operator of Luno. The goal is to rapidly progress towards a PDO for a unitized development of the two fields.
The Draupne field is expected to produce 143 million barrels of oil and gas. The licensees are Det norske oljeselskap (35%), Statoil (50%) and Bayerngas (15%).
Ashley Heppenstall, President and CEO of Lundin Petroleum comments; “We are ready to move forward with the Luno development. Our development concept incorporates the ability to develop Draupne together with Luno and we are seeking to progress commercial arrangements with the Draupne licence partners in this respect” ,
The Luno and Tellus discoveries, which together form the Luno development, contain recoverable reserves of 188 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Lundin Petroleum is the operator of PL 338 with a working interest of 50 percent. The partners are Wintershall with 30 percent and RWE Dea Norge AS with 20 percent.
[mappress] October 7, 2011: Image: Lundin Petroleum