$2 Billion Fram Sør Project to Help Secure Europe's Oil & Gas

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Norwegian oil and gas major Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) (Stavanger, Norway) is set to invest NOK 21 billion (US$2.1 billion) in a new subsea development in the northern part of the North Sea that will help secure Europe's oil and gas supplies.

The company and its partners in the Fram Sør project, Var Energi (Stavanger) and INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS (Lysaker, Norway), have submitted the plan for development and operation to Norway's Minister of Energy Terje Aasland. Fram Sør is a combined development of several discoveries - Echino South and Blasto - that have been made since 2019. They will export oil and gas via the Troll C floating production platform, which is located 20 kilometers away. Recoverable volumes are estimated at 116 million barrels of oil equivalent (Boe), 75% of which is oil and 25% is gas, and production is scheduled to start at the end of 2029. Industrial Info is tracking nine active projects associated with Fram Sør worth almost US$200 million. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the reports.

"Fram Sør will contribute to security of energy supply from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) to Europe," said Geir Tungesvik, Equinor's executive vice president, Projects, Drilling & Procurement. "The development will put new oil and gas resources on stream by connecting new infrastructure to existing facilities that provide good and robust profitability. With the host platform Troll C being powered from shore, the production from Fram Sør will have very low emissions. The project will generate activity for the Norwegian supply industry, with an estimated employment effect of 4,500 full-time equivalents (FTEs) during the development period." Norway has become Europe's most important source of oil and gas since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The partners are claiming very low emissions figures for the project and are looking to use new technologies for the first time in the NCS. The CO2 intensity for the Fram Sør development is estimated at about 0.5 kilograms (kg) of CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent (Boe). The average for the NCS is 8kg/Boe, Equinor stated, while putting the industry average at about 16 kg/Boe. In addition, the company will be deploying all-electric "Christmas trees" that eliminate the need for hydraulic fluid supplied from the platform and which will "improve monitoring capabilities of the subsea equipment.." Christmas trees are a complex assembly of valves and other components that sit on the subsea wellhead to monitor and control the flow into or out of the completed well. Fram Sør represents another development designed to maximize the output from more mature fields.

Kjetil Hove, Equinor's executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway, added: "We have done a thorough job maturing the new resources discovered in the Fram and Troll area in recent years. Fram Sør shows the importance of area solutions and close collaboration between partners and authorities in order to realise the resource values on a mature NCS. We have a large portfolio of projects that will phase in discoveries to our producing fields. Equinor expects to put more than 50 such projects on stream by 2035."

Equinor had a record investment year in 2024, with investment of almost US$23 billion in its oil and gas (O&G) sector, and it expects that to grow by up to 9% in 2025. The country's official data institute, Statistics Norway, said that most of the country's new supply will come from the giant Johan Castberg field where a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) was anchored last September for connection to the subsea facilities. After some delays, production kicked off in March this year. The field, which has estimated recoverable volumes of between 450 million and 650 million barrels, will produce for 30 years and at its peak may produce 220,000 Boe/d. For additional information, see November 27, 2024, article--Norway Sees Record Oil & Gas Investment in 2024.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).