Statoil gets early start at Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen

Statoil has gotten a four-month early start at its Gullfaks Rimfaksdalen (GRD) field, which was scheduled for start-up on 24 December. The project has worked faster and now the field is onstream – at lower costs than planned, the company said.

Illustration of GRD, from Statoil. 

Recoverable reserves at GRD are approximately 80 MMboe, mostly gas. GRD is in the North Sea, around 5-15km southwest of the Gullfaks A platform at 135m water depth, and 3200m below the seabed. GRD has some 80 MMboe of recoverable resources, mostly gas.

The project delivered is more than US$120 million (NOK 1 billion) below the estimate of the plan for development and operation (PDO), reducing costs from $576 million (NOK 4.8 billion) to around $444 million (NOK 3.7 billion).

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.

"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," Torger Rød, senior vice president for project development in Statoil said.

“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 realizing opportunities in the North Sea," Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president for development and production Norway said. "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."

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 realize resources quickly and inexpensively, for example by using existing infrastructure while it is still available.

Statoil is the operator of GRD with 51% stake. Partners are Petoro (30%) and OMV (19%).

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