A group led by Phillips Petroleum Co. Norway has submitted a plan to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) to ensure the long term safety of Ekofisk field facilities in the Norwegian North Sea.
The plan was developed in response to NPD's warning it might shut down the giant field before winter 1995-96 over concerns for the long term safety of Ekofisk's 2/4T central oil ad gas processing and storage tank (OGJ, Oct. 19, p. 42). NPD Oct. 8 gave the Phillips group 3 weeks to state its case.
PLAN DETAILS
Phillips submitted interim plans to NPD Oct. 30 and agreed to provide long term plans that will keep Ekofisk "open, safe, and economically beneficial to all parties involved," said Phillips Norway Managing Director Knut Am.
Phillips' response listed safety work currently under way on the tank and proposed a review to find additional interim measures prior to adopting a long term solution. The review will be submitted to NPD early next year.
Interim plans include:
- Identifying jobs performed on the tank platform that can be done elsewhere and relocating the staff.
- Moving a laboratory from the tank platform.
- Expediting new maintenance routines, including new work flow planning and backlog control programs.
- Injecting another 320,000 b/d of water into the Ekofisk reservoir to reduce the rate of subsidence.
- Hiring an independent specialist to help identify additional measures.
Phillips plans to submit a long term plan to NPD in 1993 that includes decommissioning of processing equipment on the tank platform and establishing processing work elsewhere.
The group must await NPD's response, which will come after detailed study of the proposal.
BACKGROUND
The Ekofisk processing and storage tank, part of a 10 platform complex that handles as much as 600,000 b/d of oil transported to Teesside, U.K., and more than 2 bcfd of natural gas transported to Emden, Germany, is the oldest concrete installation off Norway.
Phillips at first said the NPD threat to shut Ekofisk down was intended to speed a refurbishment program the company had started.
NPD favored moving the processing and transportation facilities off Ekofisk to nearby platforms or building a new tank where there is no subsidence. The seabed has sunk 18 ft since the tank was installed in 1973, and it is sinking 14 in./year.
If NPD does not approve the plan submitted Oct. 30, the threatened closure will be made law.
The implications are immense: 30% of Norway's oil production passes through the Ekofisk tank, and the field is expected to produce until 2043.
Interests in Ekofisk are operator Phillips 36.96%, Fina Exploration Norway AS 30%, Norsk Agip AS 13.04%, Elf Petroleum Norge AS 7.594%, Norsk Hydro AS 6.7%, Total Norge AS 3.547%, Den norske stats Oljeselskap AS 1%, Elf Rex Norge AS 0.855%, and Norminal AS 0.304%.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
