Equinor Energy AS doubled the life of Njord field in the Norwegian Sea, 30 km west of Draugen and 130 km northwest of Kristiansund, following upgrades to both the platform and floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO).
Both the platform and Njord Bravo FSO were brought ashore in 2016 after 19 years of production and underwent extensive upgrades. This was the first time a platform and a FSO have been disconnected from the field, upgraded, and towed back.
Production resumed Dec. 27, 2022. Equinor expects the field to produce for another 20 years.
In 2017-18, upgrading contracts were awarded for the two installations. Aker Solutions had the main responsibility for platform engineering and upgrading, and Brevik Engineering carried out engineering work for the FSO, which has been upgraded by Aibel. Njord A platform was upgraded at Stord, where it was constructed in the 1990s. Njord Bravo FSO was inspected before upgrade and prepared for tow-out in Kristiansund. The refurbishment occurred in Haugesund.
The field is in 330 m of water. Produced oil is transported by pipeline to the FSO and onwards by tankers to market. Natural gas from the field is exported through a 40-km pipeline connected to the Åsgard transportation system for transport to Kårstø terminal.
Equinor is operator at Njord (27.5%) with partners Wintershall Dea Norge AS (50%) and Neptune Energy Norge AS (22.5%).
