Statoil begins drilling on Alpha North

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, Aug. 18-- Transocean Inc.'s Searcher rig began drilling Wednesday on the first production well on the Statoil ASA-operated Alpha North satellite in the North Sea's Sleipner West gas and condensate field. Alpha North will be developed with three or four wells and a subsea production system, Statoil said.

Drilling is expected to take about a year, reported Turid Eikebu Alfsen, head of the Sleipner drilling and well completion department. The drilling program builds on earlier experiences from Sleipner West, she said.

The rig will perform drilling and completion of three wells on the Alpha North structure, which will be tied back to the Sleipner A platform (OGJ Online, Aug. 23, 2003) via an 18-km pipeline to the Sleipner T gas treatment platform. The carbon dioxide-rich gas will pass through the T platform's separation plant where the CO2 will be removed before being pumped into the Utsira aquifer via the Sleipner A platform.

Alpha North reserves are put at 13 billion cu m of gas and about 32 million bbl of condensate.

The field is due to start producing on Oct. 1, 2004.

Statoil holds 49.5% interest in Alpha North, while ExxonMobil Corp. holds 32.24%, Total 9.41%, and Norsk Hydro AS 8.85%.