Shell has brought on stream the new phase of Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea, bolstering production and adding important gas volumes to Europe.
The Ormen Lange phase III project consists of two subsea compression stations with the objective of increasing field recovery from 75% to 85%.
The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) estimates that subsea compression will recover an additional 30-50 billion cubic meters (BCM) of gross gas production from the Ormen Lange field.
The compression system will be powered by two 120-kilometre-long cables connected to the Norwegian grid, powered mostly by renewable energy. This will lower the carbon intensity of Ormen Lange phase III’s gas production process compared with a similar facility powered by fossil fuels, Shell said earlier.
Ormen Lange is a gas field located in the Norwegian Sea, 120 km from the onshore processing and export facility at Nyhamna. The gas is exported to European markets through Langeled and the Norwegian gas export system.
Shell is the operator (17.8%) of the Ormen Lange field, with Vår Energi (6.3%), Petoro (36.5%), Equinor Energy (25.3%) and Orlen Upstream Norway (14%) as partners.