Equinor will work with partners and suppliers to bring on stream Phase 3 of giant Troll oil and gas field in the Norwegian North Sea in the first half of 2021 following approval of its development and operation plan (PDO) (OGJ Online, July 3, 2018).
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy approved the plan, which includes the installation of two subsea templates and drilling of eight production wells targeting natural gas reserves in the Troll West structure and tied back to the Troll A platform with a 36-in. pipeline. According to Equinor, Phase 3 extends the plateau production for gas from the Troll field by about 7 years, and the expected productive life by about 17 years.
Troll field has produced 33 billion boe of oil and gas since production began in 1995. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate estimates remaining reserves of 38 billion boe. Capital expenditures of 7.8 billion kroner will help extend the productive life of the Troll field beyond 2050.
“Troll is the biggest gas producer on the NCS, meeting 7-8% of Europe’s total daily gas consumption,” said Gunnar Nakken, Equinor’s senior vice-president for operations west.
Torger Rod, Equinor’s senior vice-president for project management, said Troll Phase 3 has a breakeven of less than $10/bbl and can deliver another 2.2 billion boe from the field with a carbon dioxide intensity of 0.1 kg/bbl.
The partnership let marine installation and subsea facilities contracts to Nexans, Deep Ocean, IKM, Allseas, and Marubeni. Contracts for subsea facilities and the construction of a new processing module on the Troll A platform were awarded to Aker Solutions (OGJ Online, May 16, 2018).
Operator Equinor holds a 30.58% interest. Other interests are Petoro 56%, Norske Shell 8.1%, Total E&P Norge 3.69%, and ConocoPhillips Scandinavia 1.62%.