The Norne field in the Norwegian Sea, operated by the oil giant Statoil, is celebrating its twentieth anniversary of production.
Production from the Norne field began on November 6, 1997, although the award of the Norne license dates back to over a decade earlier.
Statoil’s initial development plans called for the field to be shut down during 2014 but, during that year, Statoil concluded that the Norne FPSO hull was still solid and that the life could be extended until 2030 and even as far as 2036.
It has been reported that Statoil will first apply to extend technical life for Norne by 2021.
The Norne field has been developed with an FPSO tied to subsea templates. Flexible risers carry the wellstream to the ship, which rotates around a cylindrical turret moored to the seabed. Risers and umbilicals are also connected to the turret. The ship has a processing plant on deck and storage tanks for stabilized oil.
Gas has been exported from Norne since February 2001. It travels through the Norne Gas Export Pipeline and the Åsgard Transport trunkline via Kårstø north of Stavanger to continental Europe. The field is roughly 1,400 kilometers from the landfall at Dornum in Germany.
According to data provided by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, by the end of 2016, the Norne field had produced around 685 million barrels of oil equivalent with another 365 mmboe still “in the tank.”
Apart from Statoil, the operator of the field with a 39.1 interest, there are two more partners in the field, Petoro with 54 percent interest and Eni Norge with 6.9 percent.
Offshore Energy Today Staff