Aker BP has submitted a plan for development and operation (PDO) to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for a redevelopment of Hod field in the Valhall area in the North Sea.
The field was in production via a dedicated unstaffed wellhead platform, remote-controlled from Valhall, from 1990 until it was shut down in 2012. There has also been limited production from the field via the Valhall Flank South platform.
Only 20% of the resources in place had been produced at the time the Hod wellhead platform was shut down. The shutdown platform will be removed in accordance with a previously approved cessation plan.
The field will be redeveloped by installing a new normally unmanned platform that will be tied-back to and remotely controlled from the Valhall Central Complex (OGJ Online, June 17, 2020). The new platform, Hod B, is a copy of Valhall Flank West and will be delivered with an electric lifeboat monitored from Valhall field center. The crane and seawater pump will also be electric. The plan is to drill five wells with side-tracks to increase the recovery factor. Recoverable reserves are estimated at 40 MMboe.
The plan is to resume production at the beginning of 2022. Total investment costs for the redevelopment are estimated at 5.7 billion kroner.
Hod lies in Block 2/11 in the southern part of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, some 12 km south of Valhall Central Complex, 6 km south of the Valhall Flank South platform.
Aker is operator with 90%. Pandion Energy AS holds the remaining 10%.
