Statoil and partners have taken a step toward development of deepwater Luva gas and condensate field in the Norwegian Sea with selection of a spar platform to handle production from wells completed subsea (OGJ Online, Mar. 18, 2009).
Luva, a 1997 discovery, is 320 km west of Bodo, Norway, in 1,300 m of water.
The spar concept includes a conventional deck with processing facilities and accommodation quarters. Development would involve drilling of four wells each through two subsea templates and one well through a satellite template.
The spar would have a storage unit for condensate and processing equipment with capacity of 23 million standard cu m/day.
Gas would move from Luva through a 480-km, 30-36-in. pipeline to an onshore gas processing plant at Nyhamna. The transportation part of the development, which includes links to other fields, will be handled by the Norwegian Sea Gas Infrastructure (NSGI) project, now under Statoil’s direction.
Statoil estimates Luva holds 40-60 billion standard cu m of recoverable lean gas. It expects production to start in 2016.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Luva gas occurs in Cretaceous Nise sandstone at a depth of about 3,000 m.
Statoil, operator, holds 75% interests, ExxonMobil 15%, and ConocoPhillips 10%.
