Equinor is introducing new measures to transform the Norwegian continental shelf to tackle future challenges of declining production, ageing installations, and the need for reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The company is on track to maintain profitable production from the NCS at current levels towards 2030, but after that, the NCS will enter a more mature phase.
The NCS still holds a lot of potential, said Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice-president for development and production, Norway, but changes are needed and those changes “will be bigger than ever before and are necessary as we continue to develop as a broad energy company.”
Nylund said, “We need to start now. After 2022 there are currently few big projects remaining. The choices that we, the authorities, and the industry make today will be decisive.”
Included in the NCS renewal are plans to drill a record number of wells; explore for gas; invest in renewables, digitalization, and new technology; and renew its workforce.
Wells and extensions
Over the coming decades, Equinor plans to drill as many as 3,000 production and exploration wells—almost as many as the company has drilled since its establishment close to 50 years ago.
“We aim to achieve an average recovery rate of 60-85% respectively at our oil and gas fields. This is almost twice the average global oil recovery rate of 35%,” Nylund said.
The drilling will yield ripple effects by utilizing existing fields, pipelines, bases, and onshore facilities along the entire coast of Norway.
Plans for the next decades also call for a lifetime extension of more than 20 fields. The production lifetime of Equinor’s NCS fields is already 2-3 times longer than assumed in original plans.
Gas exploration
There is still substantial remaining oil and gas resources on the NCS, Equnior said. The company plans to drill 20-30 exploration wells every year for the coming years and test new ideas in some prospects every year.
“The likelihood of discovery in these wells will be lower than in other targets, but we see it as necessary to regularly test a few of what we call “game-changing wells” in order to explore the NCS to its full potential,” said Tim Dodson, executive vice-president for exploration.
The company sees gas exploration as a way to replace coal and to maintain Norway’s position as a long-term gas supplier to Europe.
Renewables, reducing GHG emissions
Equinor and its partners will explore the possibilities of powering Gullfaks and Snorre fields with floating offshore wind turbines. The industry’s NOx fund has decided to provide up to $67.8 million in support for the project. Snorre and Gullfaks partners also have applied for support from Enova’s program for full-scale innovative energy and climate measures.
In addition, Equinor aims to remove every fourth gas turbine on the NCS platforms through energy efficiency and electrification in the years to come.
Digitalization, workforce
Equinor expects to invest 1-2 billion kroner in digital technology leading up to 2020. This year Equinor is opening two new digital support centers to help increase NCS production.
“In the future we will also build lighter and smaller installations that can be unmanned, robotized, and remotely controlled from land. This will create higher value in the form of new activity, reduced costs and higher income while contributing to reduced CO2 emissions,” said Margareth Ovrum, executive vice-president for technology, projects, and drilling.
Equinor will seek new skilled workers as, by 2030, close to half of today’s Equinor employees will have retired.
“We will need new expertise in a range of traditional and new disciplines,” said Nylund. “We have a big and important task ahead of us that we must solve wisely. I believe that this is a challenge that appeals to young people, and we can offer them this opportunity,” he said.
