The Statfjord Ost oil field, which is located in water depths ranging between 150m and 190m within the Statfjord area in the Norwegian North Sea, will be expanded by drilling additional wells to improve oil recovery by 23 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe).
The Statfjord area covers the Statfjord main field, Statfjord Ost field, Statfjord Nord in PL 037, and Sygna field.
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The Statfjord Ost field is operated by Equinor Energy with 31.68% interest. Other partners in the licence include Petoro, Var Energi, Spirit Energy Norway, Idemitsu Petroleum Norge, and Wintershall DEA Norge, which own 30%, 20.55%, 11.56%, 4.8%, and 1.4%, respectively.
The licence holders will invest Nkr3bn ($343m) in the expansion project. The revised plan for development and operation (PDO) with changes reflecting the expansion plans was submitted to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in December 2020. Production from the expansion project is scheduled to begin in 2024.
Statfjord Ost location and geology
Statfjord Ost field is located in the Tampen area, approximately 7km northeast of the Statfjord main field in the North Sea. It is situated within production licences 037 and 089, approximately 5km northeast of Statfjord C.
The field produces hydrocarbons from the middle Jurassic sandstone of the Brent Group with pressure depletion and uses gas lift in one well. The reservoir is located at a depth of 2,400m.
Details of Statfjord Ost field expansion
The Statfjord Ost expansion project is expected to increase the recovery factor of the field from 56% to 62% and extend its life until 2040. The oil field will be expanded by the drilling of four wells from the existing subsea infrastructure, using the COSLPromoter semi-submersible drilling rig.
The project will also involve modifications to the Statfjord C platform and the installation of a new pipeline for gas lift. The expansion works are expected to take place between 2022 and 2024.
Existing Statfjord Ost field details
Discovered in 1976, the Statfjord Ost field came on stream in September 1994. It is tied back to the Statfjord C satellite platform using pipelines.
The field’s original oil volume in place was estimated at 415Mboe. It contains three subsea templates, namely K, L and M. The K template is used for water injection, while the remaining two are for oil production.
Contractors involved in Statfjord Ost field expansion
Norwegian drilling services company COSL Offshore Management secured a contract worth $56m to drill four wells on the field from Spring 2023. The contract includes options to drill five additional wells at Statfjord satellites at a later stage.
Other development plans in the Statfjord area
Equinor and its partners approved plans in January 2020 to extend oil production from the fields within the Statfjord area until 2040.
The Statfjord area was found to have considerable production potential based on extensive mapping of the underground. The expansion plans are expected to extend the production life of the Statfjord A platform from 2022 to 2027. The decommissioning of Statfjord B and C platforms will also be undertaken only after 2035 due to the new business plan.
The new reserves will be matured and the existing platforms will be upgraded accordingly to extend the production from the Statfjord area. The business plan calls for the drilling of approximately 100 new wells by 2030.
Equinor will also implement measures and upgrades to improve the operational efficiency and keep the carbon emissions as low as possible to ensure the fields support its climate goal of achieving near-zero absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its operations in Norway by 2050.
