The Marulk gas field is located in the Norwegian Sea about 30km south-west of the Norne field. It lies in a water depth of 365m in the Production Licence 122. Marulk is operated by Eni Norge (20%) and controlled by other stake holders Statoil (50%) and Dong E&P Norge (30%).
Marulk is the second major development carried out by Eni in the Norwegian Sea. The field includes Production Licences 122/A/B/C/D. Production commenced at Marulk in April 2012. The field is producing at the rate of 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
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Location
The Marulk field is located in block 6507 in the Halten Nordland area near the Norne field. The field comprises two formations known as Lysing and Lange containing gas and condensate.
Marulk discovery
The Marulk field was discovered by Eni Norge in 1992. It was followed by two subsequent exploration wells and an appraisal well drilled in 2007. The appraisal well confirmed and stretched the resource base in the Lysing and Lange formations.
Reserves
Marulk is primarily a low-CO2 gas field and consists of condensate as well. Recoverable gas reserves in the field are estimated at 74.7 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Drilling
The drilling of exploration well 6507/2-4 was completed in January 2008. The well is located about 21km south-west of the Norne field.
It has confirmed the extension of the gas-and-condensate discovery at Marulk.
Drilled at a depth of 3,600m below the sea surface, the well encountered superior reserves than expected.
Field development
DONG agreed to the Marulk field development plan in July 2010. The plan was approved by the Norwegian authorities in August 2010. Under the plan, Marulk is being developed through the adjacent Norne field, as a tie back to the Norne FPSO. Norne field is currently in production.
As the operator of Marulk, Eni Norge was responsible for the field development related to the subsea facilities and tie-in to the Norne FPSO unit. Major tasks including licence administration, reservoir management, drilling operations and authority co-ordination were also undertaken by the company.
Marulk infrastructure
The development adapts the same solution used in the gas field Alve which was connected to the Norne FPSO in 2009. Two Marulk production wells are linked to the FPSO unit stationed at the Norne field through a sea-bed installation. These wells are controlled from the Norne FPSO vessel.
Norne FPSO commenced operations in 1997 and currently acts as the northern most production facility on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
Neighbouring subsea fields including Urd, Norne K, Alve and Norne M were tied back to Norne prior to Marulk.
The production pipeline of Marulk has a direct link to Norne FPSO. The control and chemical injection umbilical has a 13km extension from the Alve template.
A 30km-long production flow line is routed from the Marulk template to the Norne FPSO.
Norne is located about 200km away from the shore and the onshore base is in Bronnoysund.
Export
The gas produced at Marulk is transported to the Asgard Transport System (ATS) through a 180km-long 10in diameter Norne Gas Transport System (NGTS). It is exported to either the European continent or to the UK.
Contracts
FMC Technologies was contracted to manufacture and supply subsea production equipment for the field. The scope of supply included two subsea trees, one manifold, one template, subsea control modules and associated topside controls and connection equipment.
Nexans was subcontracted by FMC to design and manufacture a subsea control and injection umbilical for the field.
In May 2010, Technip was awarded a contract by Statoil for fabrication and installation of a pipe-in-pipe flowline for Marulk field. The pipeline fabrication was carried out at a spoolbase of Technip located in Orkanger in March 2011. It was installed at Marulk by the Apache II vessel in the first half of 2011.
In August 2010, Statoil signed a contract with Aker Solutions for Marulk tie-in to the floating FPSO of Norne. Following the front end engineering design (FEED) study, a new flowline was created for the production and test manifold. The contract is valued at approximately NOK120m. The contractual work was completed in less than two years.
