Equinor Outlines New Plan for Troll Oil & Gas Field

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Norwegian oil major Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway), formerly Statoil, has submitted a plan for the latest phase of development of the gigantic Troll oil and gas field on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

The company and its partners expect to spend almost 7.8 billion Norwegian kroner (NOK), or almost $1 billion, to extend the productive life of the Troll field beyond 2050. The third phase of development has seen new contracts worth approximately NOK 750 million ($94 million) signed with Allseas Group (Denis, Switzerland), Nexans Norway AS (Oslo, Norway) and Deep Ocean (Haugesund, Norway).

With Phase III, the gas cap over the oil column in Troll West will be produced at the same time as the oil production continues. Last year, the Troll partners chose a subsea solution tied back to the Troll A platform as a concept for Troll Phase III. It includes the construction and installation of two subsea templates, drilling of eight production wells, laying of a 36-inch pipeline and installation of a new processing module on the Troll A platform, which is electrified. Aker Solutions ASA (OSE:AKSO) (Fornebu, Norway) has already been awarded the contracts for the delivery of subsea facilities and construction of the processing module.

"The third phase of the Troll development realises 2.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, it has a break-even of less than $10 per barrel and a carbon intensity of 0.1 kg [kilogram] per barrel," said Margareth Øvrum, Equinor's executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling. "This is probably one of the most profitable and robust projects in the company's history."

Øvrum added: "The Troll oil and gas field is in a class by itself globally. The plan for development and operation for the next phase of the Troll development submitted today is highly important both to the future value creation for Norwegian society, but also to ensuring future gas deliveries to Europe".

The Troll field supplies around 8% of Europe's gas needs and is Norway's biggest gas producer. After more than 20 years on stream, about 65% of the gas has still not been recovered, according to Equinor.

Gunnar Nakken, Equinor's senior vice president for Operations West, commented on the field's profitability over the decades: "The Troll operations have generated great value for the whole society. Since it came on stream in 1995, the Troll field has generated an estimated NOK 1,400 billion ($175 billion) in revenues, equivalent to NOK 175 million ($22 million) per day in average. In the future, we estimate that Troll will create even greater value."

Equinor expects the field to produce an additional NOK 1,650 billion ($206 billion) over its lifetime. The Troll field consists of two reservoirs: Troll West and Troll East. The gas in Troll East is produced on the Troll A platform and piped to the Kollnes terminal where it is cleaned, dried and compressed before being transported to Europe in the Zeepipe pipelines. The thin oil zone in Troll West is produced on the Troll B and Troll C platforms and piped to the oil terminal at Mongstad.

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