Wintershall starts Nova field drilling

Wintershall Dea has begun drilling the first of six wells on Nova field in the Norwegian North Sea.

With most of the subsea work already complete and a dedicated module installed on the host platform, Gjøa, the start of drilling represents the beginning of the final major packet of work in the development of Nova field.

Scheduled to be on site for around 400 days, the Seadrill-operated West Mira rig will drill three production wells through one of two subsea templates, and three water injection wells, through the second.

Installation season began in March. In May, the manifolds were installed ahead of schedule. The topside module was installed on to the Neptune Energy-operated Gjøa platform in preparation for receiving oil and associated gas from the field (OGJ Online, May 11, 2020). This summer the risers, which connect the pipelines to the platform, were also put in place.

When it comes on stream in 2022, Nova will be the company’s fourth subsea field in production. First oil is unlikely in 2021, as earlier forecasted, due to the impact of COVID-19 on the topside part of the project.

Nova lies 120 km northwest of Bergen and 17 km southwest of the Gjøa platform in water depth of 370 m.  The reservoir lies 2,570 m subsea. Wintershall has a 28% interest in the Gjøa license. Gjøa will receive the production fluids and provide injection water and lift gas to Nova field. Oil from Nova will be transported from Gjøa through the Troll Oil Pipeline II to Mongstad, associated gas will be exported via the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) pipeline to St Fergus in the UK, supplying the European energy market.

Wintershall is operator of Nova with 45%. Partners are Spirit Energy Norge AS 20%, Edison Norge AS 15%, Sval Energi AS 10%, and ONE-Dyas Norge AS 10%.