Planning an oil terminal at Veidnes

The concept includes a floating production unit with a pipeline to shore and a terminal for oil from the Skrugard field at Veidnes outside Honningsvåg in Finnmark. The field is scheduled to come on stream in 2018.

- The decision to bring Skrugard oil ashore at Veidnes is a key element of the further development of Norwegian oil and gas industry. This may spark off a new industrial era. This concept choice will facilitate further exploration and help make any future discoveries profitable," says Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Development and Production Norway (DPN).

280-kilometre pipeline

The Skrugard and Havis assets will have a common infrastructure. Production from Skrugard and Havis will be tied in to a semi-submersible floating installation through a subsea production system located in about 380 metres of water. The production is estimated at almost 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

The oil will be transported through a 280-kilometre pipeline from Skrugard to Veidnes outside Honningsvåg. It will be piped directly to an oil storage facility and stored in two mountain caverns. The oil will be sent from there in a pipeline to the quay for transportation by tankers. Some 50-100 crude tankers per year are estimated to call at the terminal.

"This is part of the ambition of making Northern Norway the country's next big petroleum region. We are pleased to have selected a good concept and hope that this may form the basis for a valuable partnership with local authorities and industry also in the future," Michelsen says.

In 2011-2012 Statoil and its partners discovered Skrugard and Havis, which are two independent structures within the same licence and represent the Skrugard field development. 400-600 million barrels of recoverable oil have been proven in this area.

Extensive exploration

Statoil's exploration campaign will consist of nine new prospects in the Barents Sea to be drilled during 2013-2014. The campaign will start in the Skrugard area, where four new prospects will be drilled.

- We have evaluated the neighbouring area associated with the 22nd licensing round, and see upside potentials in the licence. We see additional opportunities beyond the four planned wells. Because of this potential it is important to have a concept which also ensures the necessary flexibility to tie in future discoveries to the Veidnes oil terminal," Michelsen says.