Norway’s oil firm Statoil has brought its Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen (GRD) field on stream. According to the company, the field, located in the North Sea, around 5-15 kilometers southwest of the Gullfaks A platform was scheduled for start-up on Christmas Eve 2016, but the project has worked faster and is now producing.
Not only is it faster, but also cheaper. Statoil says that the project delivered is more than NOK 1 billion below the estimate of the plan for development and operation (PDO), reducing costs from NOK 4.8 billion to around NOK 3.7 billion.
“I am pleased to see that the project starts up four months ahead of plan, demonstrating good and efficient project management,” says Torger Rød , senior vice president for project development in Statoil.
“Over time we have focused on reducing costs and raising the profitability of our projects to ensure long-term activity and value creation on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Based on a smart concept using standard solutions and existing infrastructure, Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen strongly proves that we are on the right track to succeed on this work,” continues Rød.
Recoverable reserves are approximately 80 million barrels of oil equivalent, mostly gas. The licensees are Statoil (operator) (51%), Petoro (30%) and OMV (19%).
“The volumes from Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen help us reach our ambition of maintaining production and a high activity level on the NCS beyond 2030. We have a well-developed infrastructure and we will keep realising opportunities in the North Sea, ” says Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president for Development and Production Norway.
“This development leads to more production, improved value creation and higher activity level on Gullfaks, and also throughout the value chain related to the field,” continues Nylund .
The Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen development consists of a standard subsea template with two simple gas production wells, and possibilities for tie-in of two more wells. The well stream is connected to the existing pipeline leading to the Gullfaks A platform.
Gas and condensate are transported in existing pipelines to the processing plant at Kårstø north of Stavanger for processing, and from there the gas is exported to markets on the European continent.
Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen is one of Statoil’s fast-track projects, aiming to realise resources quickly and inexpensively, for example by using existing infrastructure while it is still available.