Development plans for the Statoil-operated Tyrihans field in the Norwegian Sea were formally approved by the King in Council today and submitted to the Storting (parliament).
The project embraces two structures â Tyrihans South, an oil field with a gas cap, and Tyrihans North. The latter is a gas and condensate discovery with a thin oil zone.
âThis is a highly interesting and technologically-demanding development, which exploits all our knowledge and solid experience with subsea production,â says project manager StĂĽle Gjersvold.
Plans call for the Tyrihans structures to be developed with five seabed templates tied back to the Statoil-operated Kristin field, about 40 kilometres to the north-west.
A 43-kilometre pipeline will carry the wellstream to the Kristin platform for separation and export of rich gas from both fields via the Ă sgard Transport system.
This runs to Kürstø north of Stavanger, where the gas will be processed before onward transmission to European customers.
Liquids production â condensate (light oil) and crude â will be combined with Kristin output after stabilisation and piped to the Ă sgard C storage ship for export by shuttle tanker.
Tyrihans is due to come on stream in 2009, when spare capacity will be available in Kristinâs topside facilities.
A total of 12 wells are due to be drilled on the field, which lies in roughly 300 metres of water on the Halten Bank.
âWeâll be making extensive use of multilateral wells, where a number of sidetracks are drilled from a main borehole,â explains Mr Gjersvold.
âWe also intend to continue developing smart well technology for improved recovery from subsea-completed fields. This project will set a new standard for such developments.â
According to the plan for development and operation (PDO), it will cost an estimated NOK 14.5 billion in nominal value to bring Tyrihans on stream.
This figure is somewhat higher than earlier forecasts because pressure on the supplies market has increased.
Recoverable reserves are put at roughly 182 million barrels of oil and condensate, and 34.8 billion cubic metres of rich gas.
Statoil has a 46.8 per cent interest, while its partners are Total with 26.51 per cent, Hydro with 12 per cent, Eni with 7.9 per cent and ExxonMobil with 6.75 per cent.