By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 8 -- StatoilHydro started production from the subsea completed Tyrihans oil and gas field in the Norwegian Sea on July 8.
Tyrihans subsea facilities, in 270 m of water, tie back to existing installations and infrastructure on the Kristin and Asgard fields in the Halten Bank area.
The field consists of two parts. Tyrihans South is an oil field with a gas cap and Tyrihans North is a gas-condensate discovery with a thin oil zone. The field lies in Blocks 6406/3 and 6407/1.
StatoilHydro estimates that the field has recoverable reserves of 186 million bbl of oil and condensate, and 41.5 million cu m of gas.
A 43-km pipeline transports the production from Tyrihans to Kristin for processing. From Kristin, the gas is transported ashore through the Asgard Transport pipeline while oil and condensate proceed to the Asgard C storage ship for onward transport by tanker.
Kristin and Tyrihans share the same operations organization.
Statoil Hydro says that Tyrihans is the largest field being brought on stream off Norway this year.
Drilling in the field, discovered in 1982-83, will continue for the next 2 years and StatoilHydro expects the field to reach a 96,000-boe/d plateau production in 2016-17.
In 2005, StatoilHydro submitted the development and operation plan to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, which approved the plan in February 2006.
The company installed the seabed templates in spring 2007 and began drilling wells in April 2008.
The development plan includes the installation of a subsea seawater injection facility for reservoir pressure support in summer 2010.
Statoil expects the field to continue to produce until yearend 2029.
Operator StatoilHydro holds a 58.84% interest in the field. Partners are Total E&P Norge AS 23.18%, ExxonMobil Exploration & Production Norway AS 11.75%, and Eni Norge AS 6.23%.