Equinor and its partners have approved a new subsea gas development at the Troll field in the Norwegian North Sea, investing just over $410 million (NOK 4 billion) in a project aimed at increasing gas production and supporting exports to Europe.
The TWIN project, short for Troll West Increased Gas Recovery North, is expected to add around 11 billion standard cubic metres of gas and forms the third stage of the Troll Phase 3 development.
Production is targeted to begin in 2028.
The development will consist of two wells tied back through a subsea template and pipeline to existing infrastructure at the Troll field. Existing umbilical and monoethylene glycol (MEG) systems will be extended to serve the new development.
“We have an ambition to start production as early as 2028. By simplifying, increasing standardization and reusing existing infrastructure and equipment, we are reducing costs and enabling faster production, in line with our new ways of working. The project helps sustain jobs, value creation and secure gas exports to Europe from Troll A and Kollsnes,” said Gunnar Nakken, senior vice president for projects and subsea Norway at Equinor.
The project follows an earlier Troll Phase 3 development that is scheduled to come on stream during 2026 and is intended to maintain high production levels from the Troll A platform and the Kollsnes gas processing plant toward 2030.
Both the offshore platform and onshore processing facilities are powered by electricity supplied from shore, resulting in low-emission gas production.
The TWIN project is part of a broader effort by operators and authorities to accelerate development of subsea projects on the Norwegian continental shelf through greater standardisation, lower costs and shorter execution schedules.
“Our fields are ageing, new discoveries are smaller and costs are increasing. If we are to continue delivering, we need to do something radically different. Our ambition is to halve costs and execution time for our subsea projects and develop six to eight such projects per year towards 2035,” Nakken added.
The Troll field contains around 40% of Norway's total gas reserves and accounts for roughly 10% of Europe's gas demand. Annual energy production from the field is equivalent to approximately three times Norway's annual hydropower generation.
The license partners in the project are Equinor Energy (30.55%, operator), Petoro (55.93%), Shell (8.19%), TotalEnergies (3.69%) and ConocoPhillips (1.64%).