Proposals for investing just over NOK 3.6 billion in further development of the Norne area in the Norwegian Sea have been drawn up by Statoil.
This plan for development and operation (PDO) of the Norne satellites is due to be submitted by the group to the Norwegian authorities on 5 May.
“Developing the Stær and Svale satellites will help to strengthen the area’s importance for oil production on the Norwegian continental shelf,” says project manager Kjetel Digre.
The two discoveries are due to be developed with subsea installations tied back to Statoil’s Norne production ship, with oil set to start flowing as early as the autumn of 2005.
Expected to yield a combined oil output of roughly 70,000 barrels per day, their relatively small volumes of associated gas will be exported via the Åsgard Transport system.
“Phasing in these satellites provides good utilisation of spare capacity on the Norne ship, and helps to extend the economic lifetime of existing installations,” says Mr Digre.
Stær and Svale are located five and 10 kilometres respectively north of Norne.
Svale is due to be equipped with two seabed templates and Stær with one. Plans call for these installations to be positioned this September.
A total of eight production and injection wells will be tied back to Norne.
Statoil awarded a charter to Transocean earlier this year for the Transocean Arctic rig, and drilling is scheduled to begin this October.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is expected to approve the PDO by July.
Quick execution and low capital spending have been aided by a high level of standardisation in the project.
In addition to Statoil with 40.5 per cent, partners in these Norne satellites are Petoro 24.5 per cent, Norsk Hydro 13.5 per cent, Eni 11.5 per cent and Shell/Enterprise 10 per cent.