Drilling has been completed on the Wintershall Dea’s Dvalin field in the Norwegian Sea, propelling the project into the final development phase before first gas.
Wintershall Dea said on Wednesday that, overcoming severe weather conditions at the beginning of the year and avoiding any impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had completed the four-well campaign in just over a year.
Thomas Kainer , Wintershall Dea Senior Vice President for the Dvalin Project, said: “Completion of the drilling on the Dvalin field demonstrates our continued commitment to developing our discoveries on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Despite unprecedented challenges, we are now in a position to move into the final phase of development on Dvalin and look forward to increasing our production profile in Norway”.
Dvalin is a subsea tieback in the Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Sea linking an underwater template to the nearby Heidrun platform.
Completion of the four high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) wells is one of the last major milestones, according to Wintershall Dea.
In total, Wintershall Dea drilled 18,203 metres on the Dvalin field, delivering the four new wells from the Transocean Arctic rig.
“We have rarely seen weather as harsh for as long. And we have never experienced anything like the coronavirus. To deliver these wells to this high standard in these circumstances shows incredible One Team spirit”, said Tore Øian , Wintershall Dea, Dvalin Drilling Manager.
The Dvalin field is being developed as a subsea tie-back to the Heidrun platform, using an underwater template on the ocean floor. Four wells are being drilled through the template.
Flowlines and umbilicals will connect the structure to Heidrun. On the Heidrun platform, a new 4,500-tonne module for processing and compression of gas has been installed.
The gas from Dvalin will be transported to Heidrun via a 14.9-kilometre pipeline.
From there, it will be sent to the Polarled trunk line via a 7.5-kilometre pipeline before it will be further processed to dry gas spec at the Nyhamna onshore gas terminal.