Njord field ready for another 20 years
The Njord field in the Norwegian Sea . Image courtesy of Even Fløgstad / Equinor .
Production from the Njord field in the Norwegian Sea resumed at 16.30 on 27 December , following an upgrading project in which both the platform and the floating storage and offloading vessel ( FSO ) were brought ashore .
Text and image by Equinor
The Njord field is now back on stream , ensuring secure and stable energy supplies to Europe . Both the platform and the FSO have undergone extensive upgrades , and the project has a Norwegian content of more than 90 percent . Aker Solutions has had the main responsibility for the platform engineering and upgrading . Brevik Engineering has carried out the engineering work for the FSO , which has been upgraded by Aibel . “ I am proud that we and our partners , Wintershall Dea and Neptune Energy , have now got this truly unique project across the finish line . This is the first time a platform and a FSO have been disconnected from the field , upgraded , and towed back , and we have now doubled the field ’ s life . It has been a big and challenging job ,
partly performed during a pandemic , and I want to thank everyone who has contributed . The Njord field will now deliver important volumes to the market for another two decades ,” says Geir Tungesvik , Equinor ’ s executive vice president for Projects , Drilling & Procurement . Coming on stream in 1997 , the Njord installations were initially designed to remain in operation until 2013 . However , there were large volumes left in the ground , in addition to discoveries nearby , such as Hyme which came into operation in 2013 , and others that can be produced and exported via Njord .
Scheduling The platform and FSO were brought ashore in 2016 after 19 years of production . In 2017 and 2018 , upgrading contracts were awarded for the two installations . The Njord A platform was upgraded at Stord , where it was constructed in the 90s . The Njord Bravo FSO was inspected prior to upgrade and prepared for tow-out in Kristiansund , whereas the refurbishment was carried out in Haugesund . “ Our ambition is to produce about the same volume from Njord and Hyme as we have produced so far , more than 250 million barrels of oil equivalent ,” says Kjetil Hove , Equinor ’ s executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway .
Ten new wells will be drilled at Njord from an upgraded drilling facility , new discoveries have been made at the outer edges of Njord , and more exploration will be carried out in the surrounding area . In addition , the platform and FSO have been prepared to receive production from two new subsea fields , Bauge and Fenja , with a total of 110 million barrels of recoverable resources . “ This is illustrative of our strategic work on the NCS to extend the fields ’ productive life and tying back new discoveries to existing infrastructure , while reducing the climate footprint from the production ,” says Hove . According to plans , in a few years , the Njord field will receive power from shore via the Draugen platform in the Norwegian Sea and be partially electrified . This will reduce the annual CO 2 emissions by about 130,000 tonnes . Production from the Njord field was initially supposed to resume two years ago . However , the upgrading project has been more challenging than expected , and the project was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic . This has also put an upward pressure on costs . Capital expenditures total just under EUR 3 billion ( 2022 ), compared with the original EUR 1.6 billion in the plan for development and operation . However , the project is profitable with oil prices far lower than today .
12 Stainless Steel World March 2023 www . stainless-steel-world . net