Heimdal
The Heimdal Gas Centre, on Production Licence (PL) 036, is a hub for the processing and distribution of gas. It consists of an integrated steel platform, and a riser platform.
Heimdal is a gas field west of Sveio in Hordaland county, in the northern part of the North Sea, north of Johan Sverdrup and south of Oseberg, near the border with the UK shelf.
Current Heimdal partners are Equinor (29.4% - operator), Petoro (20.0%), Total E&P Norge (16.7%), Spirit Energy (28.8%) and LOTOS Exploration and Production (5.0%).
The Heimdal field was discovered in 1972, and production started in 1986. French oil company Elf was the operator from start-up.
The development of Heimdal, together with gas exports from Statfjord and Gullfaks, formed the foundation for establishing Statpipe, the cornerstone in the Norwegian gas transport system.
As of January 2019, a total of 46 billion Sm3 of gas and 7 million Sm3 of oil have been produced from the Heimdal field.
After most of the gas reserves in the actual Heimdal reservoir had been produced towards the end of the 1990s, the field was modified to receive and process gas from the Huldra, Vale and Byggve/Skirne fields. Gas from Atla and Valemon was subsequently added. Operatorship was transferred to Norsk Hydro in connection with the reconstruction to a gas processing centre.
Together with gas from Valemon, Skirne, Atla, Heimdal and Vale, gas from the Oseberg Gas Transport system (OGT) is divided between the Statpipe and Vesterled pipelines and distributed onwards to the European continent and the UK. Condensate from processed gas on Heimdal will be sent by pipeline to the Brae platform in the UK sector. It will go from there to the Forties Pipeline System, and further on to land facilities in the UK.
In connection with tie-in of the new fields for gas processing and gas transit, a riser platform was installed in 2000 and tied into the main platform from 1985. Today, the riser platform is owned by Gassled and Gassco is the operator.
Location: Block 25/4
Production start: 13 December 1985
Important crossroads for Heimdal’s infrastructure in 2019
Production from the fields that process gas on Heimdal is declining. Equinor and Gassco, operators of the two platforms on the Heimdal field, are now conducting studies with important milestones in 2019 to ensure the best possible utilisation of the facilities before considering shutting down operations on the two platforms in 2021 or 2022.
Heimdal is one of the veterans in the North Sea, and the field reflects many significant development trends in Norwegian petroleum history. Nearly all of the field’s own gas reserves were produced by the end of the 1990s. Heimdal was then modified to exploit the values in this infrastructure, allowing it to function as a processing centre for other nearby gas fields, and as a hub for gas export from Oseberg. A new riser platform was installed in connection with the modification, currently owned by Gassled and operated by Gassco. The process platform is owned by the Heimdal licence and is operated by Equinor.
Today, Heimdal mainly processes gas from Valemon, Skirne, Atla and Vale, as well as minor gas volumes from the Heimdal reservoir itself. It is expected that Valemon, which currently accounts for the largest gas volumes to Heimdal, will transfer its remaining gas production to Kollsnes via Kvitebjørn from 2021. Unless these volumes are replaced by new gas from other fields, operation of the Heimdal platforms will no longer be profitable.
It is important to ensure that all profitable resources can be exploited before we phase out infrastructure on the Norwegian shelf. As architect of the gas transport systems on the Norwegian shelf, Gassco is therefore considering whether there are good potential alternative solutions for remaining gas resources in the Heimdal area. This work is being conducted together with the Heimdal companies and other operators in the area. Several important clarifications will materialise during the course of 2019.
As the Heimdal process platform has auxiliary systems that are required for operation of the Heimdal riser platform, Gassco is studying alternative solutions to maintain gas transport throughout the entire area. An investment decision regarding construction of a subsea bypass of the Heimdal platforms is expected in summer 2019.
In order to prepare for a possible shutdown of Heimdal in 2021 or 2022, the Heimdal partners and Gassled started a joint shutdown and removal project for the two platforms. The project was initiated to comply with the requirements in the Petroleum Act regarding cessation of petroleum activity. In January 2019, Gassco and Equinor will submit a joint proposal for an impact assessment programme for removal of the two platforms. If no new process users emerge, a cessation plan will be drawn up for Heimdal, which will be submitted to the authorities in 2019-2020.