Oil and gas company Wintershall Dea has begun drilling four production wells on the Dvalin gas field in the Norwegian Sea, getting ready for the start of production in 2020.
Drilling of the production wells from the Transocean Arctic rig is expected to last approximately one year and follows an intense summer of activity around the Wintershall Dea-operated Dvalin development, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Since April, there has been high activity at the Dvalin field with installation of pipelines and the manifold at 400 meters water depth.
In August, a 3,500 tonne processing module was completed and lifted on to the nearby, Equinor-operated Heidrun platform in preparation for receiving gas from the Dvalin field. The field is located 259 kilometers north of Kristiansund in mid Norway.
“A summer of activity topped off with the start of drilling on the key Dvalin project is a potent sign of the belief we have in Norway, and the resources we are prepared to invest to reach our ambitions,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf , Wintershall Dea Chief Technology Officer.
Dvalin is being developed as a subsea field tied back to Heidrun, which lies some 15 kilometers to the northwest. The four wells will be drilled to a depth of around 4,500 meters.
Alv Solheim , Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Norway, said: “Dvalin fits neatly into our strategy of supplying gas to the European market through fields and pipelines while ensuring we remain one of the most important gas producers on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.”
Wintershall Dea is the operator of the field with a 55% interest, and its partners are Petoro and Edison with a 35% and 10% interest, respectively.