STATOIL: More gas at Snøhvit

Hammerfest LNG plant at Melkøya. (Photo: Harald Pettersen)

Statoil and its partners on the Snøhvit field have increased the reserves estimate by 20 billion standard cubic metres of gas.


Production experience from the field has proven that it is possible to produce more gas from the reservoirs than previously assumed.

The adjustment corresponds to an increase of 125 million barrels of oil equivalents in relation to the resource estimate that was prepared in the plan for development and operation (PDO), and is equal to about half of a Luva or Skrugard discovery.

“I think it is very encouraging that, though work on the field, we can increase the resource estimate for Snøhvit. The increase is important for the potential development of our activity in the Barents Sea,” says Øivind Nilsen, production vice president for Hammerfest LNG.

“We will continue the work with reserve development and hope that we can further increase the recoverable reserves in the field through measures for improved recovery (IOR) in the future.”

When the PDO was submitted, the recoverable resources were estimated at 190 billion cubic metres of natural gas and 18 million cubic metres of condensate.

The Snøhvit owners have started assessing whether and potentially how the total gas export from the Barents Sea can be increased. Such expansion will either take place through increased LNG production capacity or through an export pipeline.

A decision regarding the concept for such an increase is planned for the second quarter of 2012. An investment decision for potential LNG capacity expansion is thus expected in 2013.

The fields that deliver gas to Melkøya are Snøhvit and Albatross, and the Askeladd field will also be developed for gas production. The first gas discovery here was made in 1981. The fields have been operational since August 2007 and produce about 13,000 tonnes of LNG daily from nine wells.

The partners in Snøhvit are Statoil (operator - 36.79%), Petoro (30%), Total E&P Norge (18.40%), GDF SUEZ E&P Norge (12%), and RWE Dea Norge (2.81%).

Snøhvit is the first gas development in the Barents Sea. With no installations on the sea surface, large volumes of natural gas are transported onshore and cooled at Hammerfest LNG on Melkøya, the world’s northernmost and Europe’s first LNG export facility.

Source: Statoil

Posted on 1/29/2012 / 0 comments / Read More

Fairstar awarded two contracts by Saipem for Golden Eagle

Fairstar Heavy Transport N.V. (FAIR) has been awarded two contracts by Saipem to provide marine transportation services for the Golden Eagle Project in the North Sea.

The first voyage is scheduled in early 2013 and will involve the FINESSE. The second voyage is scheduled in early 2014 and will involve the FJORD. The total contract value is Euro 11.99 million.

Source: Press Release

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DSME contract Technip for Wheatstone gas processing platform design

Technip Oceania (TPO), a Technip Group operating centre in Perth, Australia, has been awarded a contract, worth approximately AUD110 million (€90 million), by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) for the detailed design of Chevron’s Wheatstone offshore gas processing platform, located 200 kilometers off Western Australia’s coast.

The upstream (offshore) portion of the project is comprised of the development of gas fields in the WA-17-R and WA-253-P petroleum titles located on the Northwest Shelf offshore Western Australia at water depths of 70 to 200 meters. Subsea gas-gathering systems will transport production to the processing platform where the gas and condensate will be treated. It will then be exported to the onshore gas plant located at Ashburton North, 12 kilometers west of Onslow, on the Pilbara coast of mainland Western Australia.

This award follows on from TPO's successful completion of the front-end engineering design of the project, a contract awarded by Chevron in 2009. The contract represents a breakthrough for TPO, who are leading the work and performing over 40% locally in Australia. Frans Roozendaal, TPO’s Managing Director, says “the Wheatstone Platform is one of the largest offshore platforms ever built, and I am proud that we have been able to deliver the design for DSME from our Australian operation. We have had to expand locally to perform the work, with over 200 people in Perth working on the project.”

DSME’s Project Manager, KH Lee says “it has been good to be able to use Technip’s Australian office to lead this work. The continuation from FEED, the knowledge of Australian requirements, and the proximity to Chevron gives us a great advantage.”

Technip’s operating centers in Perth, Australia and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will execute the contract, which is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2012.

Source: Technip

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