ConocoPhillips files plan for North Sea re-development

Oil major ConocoPhillips has submitted a Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for a re-development of the Tor field in the Greater Ekofisk area in the North Sea to Norwegian authorities. 

The field was in production from 1978 until it was shut down in 2015 when the installation reached the end of its lifetime. At shutdown, just 20 per cent of the resources in place had been produced.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Monday that the field will be re-developed by installing two new subsea templates tied into the Ekofisk Complex. The recoverable reserves are estimated at 10 million standard cubic meters of oil equivalents (Sm3).

The plan is to re-start production in late 2020. The total investment costs for the re-development are estimated at NOK six billion ($701.7 million).

Norwegian State Secretary, Rikard Gaarder Knutsen, said: “It is very gratifying that a company has found a safe way to extract more values ​​from the Tor field. The Tor II project is an example of how active efforts and new solutions can create great values  from fields that have previously been produced.”

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said that the new development means that the Tor field will, overall, produce for more than 60 years.

The Tor field is located in the southern part of the North Sea, north-east of Ekofisk. The licensee group consists of ConocoPhillips Norge (30.66 per cent), Total E&P Norway (48.2 per cent), Vår Energi (10.82 per cent), Equinor (6.64 per cent) and Petoro (3.69 per cent).