Norway approves Statoil's Gjøa field development

May 16, 2007
Norway has approved Statoil ASA's development and operation plan for Gjøa oil and gas field in the North Sea, bringing it a step closer to fruition.

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, May 16 -- Norway has approved Statoil ASA's development and operation plan for Gjøa oil and gas field in the North Sea, bringing it a step closer to fruition. Statoil and partners must secure a final approval from the Norwegian parliament this summer before they can develop Gjøa using subsea templates tied back to a semisubmersible rig.

Kjetel Digre, leader of the Gjøa project at Statoil, said the planned development "allows flexibility with regard to the possibility of new recoverable finds in the area.... The development of the Hydro-operated Vega field can now be implemented in a profitable way." The small Hydro-operated condensate and gas fields Vega and Vega South are to be tied back to the Gjøa platform, which otherwise, developed by themselves would not be economic.

The chosen development concept ties in the three Norsk Hydro AS-operated oil and gas deposits—Camilla, Belinda, and Fram B—to Gjøa. Production is expected to start in 2010 and the investment will cost 27 billion kroner in 2006 money.

The Gjøa field, proven in 1989, lies 70 km north of Troll oil field on Blocks 35/9 and 36/7. The reserves are estimated at 60 million bbl of oil and condensate and 35 billion cu m of gas. The gas will be sent through the UK pipeline Flags to St. Fergus, Scotland. The oil will be piped to the Troll II line and further to the Statoil-operated 200,000 b/cd Mongstad refinery north of Bergen. Digre said: "Gjøa oil is of good quality and will be important for future supply of raw materials to the Mongstad refinery."

He added that the company has demonstrated that it can be profitable to use onshore power to meet Gjøa's power needs on the platform. "With power from land, we will be able to remove up to five gas turbines which otherwise would generate platform electricity. Hence we avoid large carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions."

The electricity generation license application is now being considered by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE).

"Plans call for coordinated electricity generation from the Mongstad energy project (EVM). A combined heat and power (CHP) station at Mongstad, north of Bergen, will come into operation in 2010," Statoil said.

Statoil is development operator with Gaz de France as production operator.

Interests in the Gjøa license are Gaz de France 30%, Petoro SA 30%, Statoil 20%, Royal Dutch Shell PLC 12%, and RWE Dea AG 8%.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected]