First Unmanned Platform on Norwegian Continental Shelf Starts Production

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The first unmanned platform on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) has started production at the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 oil field in the North Sea.

The field, which has estimated recoverable resources of 110 million barrels, is owned and operated by Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) and partners and comprises 11 wells. The Oseberg H platform is fully automated and according to Equinor is a pilot for further unmanned drilling operations.

"With Oseberg H we take a huge technological leap forward," explained Anders Opedal, Equinor's executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling. "The fully automatic, unmanned and remote-operated platform is digitalisation in practice, and I am proud of Equinor and its partners having chosen this in-house developed solution. Oseberg H is the first platform of its kind on the Norwegian continental shelf with no facilities, not even a toilet. The topside weighs only a good 1,000 tonnes, another example of simplification in practice. This platform only has the bare essentials. Oseberg H is a pilot and our first unmanned platform. We are further developing the concept and believe that the next version will be even more competitive."

Equinor said that the alternative to an unmanned wellhead platform would have been expensive subsea wells but that the new concept is a competitive alternative in developing smaller discoveries.

The project cost $800 million, more than 20% lower than the cost estimate of the plan for development and operation. The breakeven price per barrel has been significantly reduced from $34 to below $20 per barrel.

The 11 wells on Oseberg Vestflanken 2 will be drilled by the Askepott jack-up rig: nine through the Oseberg H platform and two through an existing subsea template. Pipelines and subsea equipment have also been installed. The Oseberg region has been in production for 30 years, and Equinor believes there could decades of production left.

Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor's executive vice president for Development and Production Norway, said: ""With the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 development we keep expanding the massive infrastructure at the Oseberg field. This is a key contribution to renewing and securing long-term NCS activity."

Industrial Info reported in recent weeks that Equinor had completed a 200-kilometre (km) power-from-shore project for its Johan Sverdrup oil and gas field in the North Sea, one of the largest on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. For additional information, see October 17, 2018, article - Equinor's Giant Johan Sverdrup Field Powered from Shore.

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