Statoil has submitted a development plan for a North Sea oil discovery named after a Viking ship.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) confirmed receipt of a Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for the Byrding discovery.
The discovery, which is located 3.8 kilometres north of Fram and 27 kilometres southwest of Gjøa, contains 11 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalents.
“It is very positive that Byrding is now being developed and is contributing to value creation both for society at large and for the licensees,” said Tomas Mørch, the NPD’s assistant director for the Northern North Sea.
A byrding was a Viking ship with high sides, as opposed to a longship, intended for use along the coast. It looks much like a knarr, or a merchant ship, but is more rounded. Both types could be rowed as well as sailed.
The plan includes a two-branch well, which will be drilled from an available slot on the existing subsea template on Fram H-North.
The wellstream will be routed via Fram infrastructure to Troll C, where it will be partially processed. The oil will then be transported via pipeline to Mongstad, north of Bergen, while the gas will be sent via Troll A to the terminal at Kollsnes, south of Mongstad, according to the NPD.
“This is another example of a new discovery being realised through existing infrastructure,” said Torger Rød, Statoil’s senior vice president for project development.
“Byrding shows that successful improvement efforts in Statoil, and in this case particularly within drilling and well, allow new development projects to be realised.
“Combined with the use of an available well slot in an existing subsea template this reduces the costs of the project substantially. The project is profitable also in the current oil price environment.”
The original capital expenditure costs totalled NOK3.5billion. However, the Norwegian player expects to now spend a reduced amount of NOK1billion.
Statoil is the site’s operator with a 45% stake, Wintershall owns 25%, Engie and Idemitsu both own 15%.
Development of the Byrding discovery has been considered for the past decade.
Production is expected to start in the third quarter of 2017, making return for the project partners in the same year as the investments are made.
“Good dialogue between the different players is the key to finding good area solutions,” said Mørch.
Byrding will remain on stream for eight to 10 years.