Statoil’s PDO approved for Oseberg Vestflanken 2 in North Sea

Norway’sMinistry of Petroleum and Energy has greenlighted Statoil ASA’s plan for development and operation (PDO) for Vestflanken 2 in the northern section of the North Sea. The PDO was submitted last December (OGJ Online, Dec. 18, 2015).

Located 9 km from the Oseberg field center, Vestflanken 2 is the first of three planned phases for development of the remaining reserves in the Oseberg area. The project will help extend the life of the Oseberg field, which has been producing since 1988.

Development of Vestflanken 2 involves an unmanned wellhead facility resting on the seabed. The concept is new to the Norwegian shelf, but common on the Danish and Dutch shelves.

The platform will have no process equipment, living quarters, drilling facilities, or helicopter deck. Wells will be drilled with a mobile drilling unit, while maintenance will be performed by a support vessel with adapted gangway drawing up alongside the platform.

The wellhead facility has 10 well slots, two of which will be used to inject gas. Additionally, two production wells will be drilled from an existing subsea template on Vestflanken.

Further injection will take place by bringing in gas through a new pipeline from an existing gas injection system. The wells on Vestflanken 2 will be controlled from the Oseberg field center, where the oil and gas will also be processed.

Statoil is operator of Vestflanken 2 with 49.3% interest. Partners are Petoro AS 33.6%, Total SA 14.7%, and ConocoPhillips 2.4%.

ConocoPhillips in 2015 estimated development cost at just under $1 billion, facilitating production of 110 million boe. Of the total, oil represents 62 million bbl, while gas amounts to 7.8 billion standard cu m. The reservoirs are 2,400-3,100 m subsea.