Located 200km offshore the Norwegian North Sea, the Morvin oil and gas field lies in production licence 134b. The field is owned by Statoil (64%), ENI (30%) and Total (6%), with Statoil as operator.
Statoil initially owned 50% in Morvin, while 14% was held by Hydro. Following the merger of Hydro with Statoil, the latter’s stake in the field increased to 64%.
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The field was brought onstream in August 2010.
Discovery
The Morvin field was discovered in 2001 when Statoil found light crude in an exploration well dug at the site. Five years after the field’s discovery, the company started drilling an appraisal well (6506-11 / 8) in March 2006.
The well was drilled by the West Alpha rig. Drilling was complete by June 2006 and confirmed the presence of oil in the Halten Bank area. The well is located at a water depth of 380m.
Morvin reserves and production
Statoil estimates that the Morvin field contains recoverable reserves of 70 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). The production period is estimated to be 14 years. The Morvin field is expected to produce 27,000boe per day during peak production.
According to ENI’s estimates Morvin will contribute 12,000boe per day net to the company by 2014.
Morvin field development
The field development plan for Morvin included three production wells to be drilled initially. The wells are designated as 6506 / 11-A-1 H, A-2 H, A-3 H. Statoil later decided to add another production well. The fourth production well is designated as 6506 / 11-B-3 H.
The Morvin field development, including three production wells, was estimated to cost Nkr8.7bn. The fourth production well was estimated to require a further investment of Nkr1.2bn.
Statoil submitted the Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) of the field to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy on 15 February 2008. The PDO was approved on 25 April 2008.
Morvin subsea system
Morvin is being developed with two subsea templates tied back to the Asgard B platform, which is located 20km away. The subsea templates were installed in May 2010.
Asgard B is a semi-submersible platform installed at the Statoil-operated Asgard field, which is located 15km away. Although Asgard B is a gas production platform, its fluid-handling capacity is adequate to meet Morvin’s oil production. The contract for subsea production system was awarded to Aker Kvaerner Subsea in November 2007. The contract is valued at an estimated Nkr1bn. The subsea system being installed includes three horizontal subsea trees, two manifolds, steel umbilicals, production control system and tie-in system.
The Morvin reservoir is characterised by high pressure and high temperature. The reservoir pressure exceeds 11,600psi (800 bar) while the temperature of the oil is 150°C, therefore, the subsea system was designed to withstand high pressures and temperatures up to 15,000psi and 170°C respectively.
Drilling equipment
The first exploration well on the Morvin field was drilled using the West Alpha rig. This semi-submersible rig was built in 1986 and designed by Ultra Yatzy.
The rig is owned by Seadrill and can operate at water depths ranging from 60m to 600m. It can drill to a maximum depth of 7,000m, accommodate 110 people and has a helideck that can land a Sikorsky S-92.
Morvin’s production wells are planned to be drilled using Saipem’s Scarabeo 5 semi-submersible drilling rig. On 8 December 2009 Statoil received permission from the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway to use the Scarabeo 5 rig at the Morvin field.
The rig was built in 1990 in Italy and can drill to depths up to 7,600m. It can accommodate a crew of 106.
Morvin pipeline
The oil produced from the production wells at Morvin will be transported to the Asgard B platform for further processing. A 20km wellstream pipeline is planned to be laid for this purpose.
