Statoil Reveals $2.3 Billion Investment for Njord and Bauge Fields

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Oil and gas major Statoil ASA (NYSE:STO) (Stavanger, Norway) has submitted plans to spend 19.8 billion Norwegian kroner ($2.3 billion) to develop the Njord field and the new Bauge discovery to Norway's regulator.

The company said that the plans have been submitted to the Norwegian minister of petroleum and energy, Terje Søviknes, and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. It said that new technology and project improvements will "trigger new investments on the Njord and Bauge fields" in the Norwegian Sea.

"When we submitted the plan for development and operation for the Njord development 20 years ago, we assumed that the field would be shut down in 2013. With new technology, project improvements and close cooperation with the partners and supply industry, we now see opportunities to create considerable value for another 20 years at Njord," said Margareth Øvrum, Statoil's executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling.

The company is planning to invest 15.7 billion kroner ($1.8 billion) in Njord and 4.1 billion ($477 million) in Bauge. Last week, Industrial Info reported that Statoil had awarded an engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) contract worth in excess of 5 billion kroner ($590 billion) to Kvaerner ASA (Oslo, Norway) for the upgrade of the Njord A platform in the Norwegian Sea. The floating steel platform, with an integrated deck equipped with drilling and processing facilities, as well as living quarters, is now in dry dock. For additional information, see March 27, 2017, article - Statoil Awards $590 Million Njord A Platform Project.

Øvrum added: "The Njord and Bauge development projects bring new opportunities for the supply industry. Both the Njord A platform and the Njord Bravo floating storage and offloading vessel (FSO) will be upgraded. In addition, we will build new subsea facilities, drill new wells and perform extensive marine operations."

Siri Espedal Kindem, Statoil's senior vice president for operations North in Development and Production Norway, said: "Njord remaining on stream until 2040 is important for our specialist communities in Kristiansund and Stjørdal, as well as Mid-Norway supply industry. An upgraded field centre and new infrastructure at Njord will facilitate the development also of other fields in the area."

The remaining resources on the Njord and Hyme fields total 175 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), which is equal to the reserves produced on the Njord field since first oil in 1997. There are 73 million (boe) at Bauge, which will be the first to use Cap-X technology, Statoil's next-generation subsea production system. Cap-X is a quarter the size of existing subsea templates and designed to perform more operations from a vessel instead of a rig.

"Cap-X costs less to produce and install," said Øvrum. "This helps add more value from the Bauge field."

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