TOP 5 PROJECTS
Statoil commences
production
at Gudrun
Project is the frst Statoil-operated
platform to come onstream since 2005
Statoil ASA and its partners com- menced production of the $3.4 billion development of the Gudrun oil and gas feld in the North Sea on June 16, 2014, making it the frst new Statoil-operated platform to come onstream on the
Norwegian continental shelf since 2005.
Discovered in 1974, Gudrun is a high-temperature/high-pressure feld that remained undeveloped for decades because
new drilling technology was required to
exploit it. Once the needed technology was
born, Statoil hit the drawing board to engineer a fully constructed platform standing
independently in the North sea. The operator expects to recover 184 MMboe from the
feld during its lifetime.
The feld leverages existing infrastructures, with an export connection to the
Sleipner A platform. Its expected peak
production is about 90,000 boe/d. Statoil
submitted Gudrun’s plan for development
and operation (PDO) in 2010 and received
approval in June 2011. At the time of submission, Gudrun was Statoil’s only mega-project
(investments in excess of $1.7 billion).
“We delivered the Gudrun feld on time
and below the cost estimate in the PDO.
Choosing a global strategy for Gudrun contributed to reducing the costs,” said Marga-reth Ovrum, head of the Technology, Projects and Drilling business area in Statoil.
Gudrun’s reservoir is located at a depth
of 13,780-15,420 ft ( 4,200-4,700 m), and origi-
nates from the Jurassic Age. The pressure
in the reservoir is about 860 bar ( 12,473
psi) and the temperature approaches 150°C
(302°F). The need for new drilling technolo-
gy of an HP/HT was the reason its reserves
were left in the bank for such a long time,
Statoil noted.
The feld holds an estimated 26 bcm (918
bcf) of gas and 30 MMbbl of condensate. It
was developed with an integrated processing platform with wellhead facilities and
separation of gas, liquids, and water. The
platform produces from seven production
wells, including Gudrun Ost, a discovery
made after the plan for development and operation of the Gudrun feld was submitted.
Its topsides has slots for 16, making it pos-
Robin Dupre
Sr. Technology Editor
The Gudrun platform.
(All photos courtesy
Harald Pettersen, Statoil)
The Gudrun platform in the North Sea.
