A consortium led by Statoil ASA has been given consent by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) to start up facilities and production on the Rutil deposit on Gullfaks South in the Tampen area of the North Sea. Production is scheduled to start in August-September.
Rutil, a gas-filled structure on production license 050, will be developed with a standard subsea template with four well slots and two gas production wells. The template is tied-in to existing infrastructure on the Gullfaks A facility for processing and export.
The plan for development and operation (PDO) for Rutil was submitted in December 2014 (OGJ Online, Dec. 16, 2014). Statoil estimates in-place volumes at 17.9 billion standard cu m of gas and 2 million standard cu m of condensate. Expected recoverable reserves are 11.9 million standard cu m of oil equivalent.
NPD notes that investment in the project has totaled about $460 million, down from the $590 million estimated in the PDO.
Statoil operates production license 050 with 51% interest. Partners are Petoro AS 30% and OMV AG 19%.
