Germany's Wintershall has taken over the operatorship of the subsea oil and gas field Vega from Statoil as it gears up to develop the Maria field.
Vega is the BASF subsidiary’s first operated subsea tie-in field in Norway. With this transfer, Wintershall now operates two production fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, Brage and Vega.
The takeover of the Vega operatorship is part of the transaction with Statoil that was completed in December 2014. By the acquisition of additional shares in the producing fields Vega and the nearby Gjøa, Wintershall firmly established itself as one of the large producers on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Wintershall is currently producing more than 60,000 boe/d in Norway. With the further purchase of shares in the Aasta Hansteen gas development and the Polarled pipeline project as part of the same deal, Wintershall strengthened its strategic partnership with Statoil and reaffirmed its long term commitment to Norway.
The Vega field is in the Norwegian section of the North Sea. It is tied back to the Gjøa platform, 28km to the east. The production on Vega started in 2010. Wintershall is the operator of the field with a 55.6% working interest. Partners are Petoro (28.3%), Bayerngas (7.3%), GDF Suez (4.4%), and Idemitsu (4.4%).
“Becoming the operator of Vega means that we are building up our expertise as a subsea operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Subsea fields are already a vital part of the oil and gas infrastructure in Norway and we believe they will grow in importance. With Vega we are gaining the experience that will be crucial in operating our future own developments, like the Maria field in the Norwegian Sea,” said Bernd Schrimpf, Managing Director of Wintershall Norge.
Yesterday, Alv Bjørn Solheim, Wintershall Norge Technical Director and Øivind Dahl-Stamnes, Statoil Vice President for Troll Production, signed the Main Transfer Protocol marking today’s completion of the process to transfer the operatorship of Vega from Statoil to Wintershall.
“It has always been our plan to operate a growing proportion of our own production. Taking on our second operatorship underlines our long-term approach in Norway: We are operating fields, belonging to the major producers on the shelf, and we are involved in some of the most exciting developments in Norway,” said Solheim.