Wintershall and its partners have been given the green light to start production next month from the Maria field in the Norwegian Sea.
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| Maria development. Source: Wintershall. |
The development will come on stream almost one year ahead of the original plan, at reduced costs and with slightly increased oil reserves, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate says. Production was originally due to start in Q4 2018. The cost estimate in the field’s plan for development and operations (PDO) was US$1.9 billion (NOK 15.7 billion), but the actual investment has come in at just over $1.4 billion (NOK 12 billion).
Watch a video animation on the field below.
Maria is being developed using two seabed templates, each with four slots. Current plans are to drill four oil production wells and two water injection wells. Maria is expected to produce for 22 years. The field, in production licenses 475 BS and 475 CS, is in the Haltenbank area of the Norwegian Sea, 240km northwest of Trondheim, about 20km east of the Kristin field and about 45km southwest of the Heidrun field. Maria is Wintershall’s first operated development project off Norway.
Production from Maria will be transported via pipeline to Kristin for processing and metering. Oil will then be routed to the Åsgard C - FSU for storage and offloading. Gas will be transported through the Åsgard Transport System (ÅTS) to Kårstø. Gas for gas lift will be supplied from Åsgard B via the Tyrihans D template. Injection of sulfate-reduced water from Heidrun tension leg platform will be used for pressure support.
Wintershall estimates total recoverable reserves of 181.8 MMboe of oil, 1.32 million tonnes natural gas liquids (NGL) and 2.31 billion cu m of gas. The discovery was initially estimated to contain approximately 176.7 MMboe, mostly oil, but also some associated gas and NGLs.
Maria was discovered in 2010; the NPD approved the Maria PDO in September 2015. Wintershall is operator with 50% interest. Partners are Petoro with 30% and Centrica Resources (Norge) with 20%.
Emerson today (20 November) announced that its latest Roxar Downhole Sensor System has been deployed on the Maria field offshore Norway. The wireless solution will deliver integrity data and measures online and real-time pressure and temperature information from behind the casing in subsea production wells. The pressure and temperature monitoring system also allows Wintershall to verify that the predicted pressure buildup falls within the design criteria, and an alarm trigger point is implemented in case pressures that are potentially outside the system design are reached.
The system also comes with new advances that enable operators to access online displays and trending of previously unreachable temperature and pressure subsurface data behind the well casing and achieve online integrity verification without any impact on production. The system, that has been tested at 225 degrees Celsius/437 degrees Fahrenheit and can withstand pressures of up to 1380 Bar/20,000 Psi, has already generated significant direct savings for operators, due to reduced testing requirements and more time to focus on production.
Read more:
Maria first oil could be brought forward
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