North Sea Oil Giant to Prolong Life of 20 Offshore Platforms
Norwegian oil giant Equinor is planning to extend the life of more than 20 offshore platforms in Norway overall.
The company on Thursday said it had received the authorities’ approval for extending the life of eight installations on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) during the last three years, and the company now plans to apply for prolonging the life of all older and relevant installations by 2031.
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“Field life extension is an excellent way of managing resources, as it creates high value from established fields, where we cooperate with our suppliers on safe operation and lower emissions every single day. It also creates more activity offshore, in line with our ambition of pursuing our profitable and sustainable development of the NCS,” says Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president for Development and Production Norway.
Nylund said the offshore platform life extensions help secure thousands of jobs offshore and onshore and considerable revenue to society, owners and suppliers.
“As an example, Gullfaks is currently creating more than 1500 jobs directly on three platforms, in addition to onshore jobs with Equinor and our suppliers and local spinoffs across the country,” says Nylund.
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The eight life extensions mentioned earlier involve the following offshore oil and gas platforms: Gullfaks A, B, and C (2036), Oseberg East (2031), Snorre A and B (2040), Norne (2036) and Åsgard A (2030).
In 2018, Gullfaks produced oil and gas at a value of close to NOK 28 billion and investments of NOK 4.7 billion were made, Equinor said.
Equinor has submitted applications for consent to the authorities for further operation of Vigdis, Tordis and Veslefrikk. Applications for life extension of Troll B and Heidrun Subsea are scheduled to be submitted this year, Equinor said.
Apart from prolonging oil & gas platforms’ life for obvious reasons – extended production – Nylund said that they form the basis for innovation relating to carbon capture and storage, floating offshore wind farms and hydrogen.
