Gudrun field partners to invest in further development

Partners in the Gudrun field offshore Norway have decided to invest in a water injection plant on the field to improve reservoir recovery. This will extend the field life by three years compared to the original plan.

The Gudrun field is operated by Equinor with a 36% interest and its partners are Neptune (25%), OMV (24%), and Repsol (15%). The field is located inn the middle of the North Sea in license area PL025, about 55 kilometers north of the Sleipner installations.

“We are pleased about the partnership’s decision to invest NOK 2.4 billion in further development of the Gudrun field. Water injection will improve recovery from the reservoir and utilize existing infrastructure on the field. This is a robust and good project,” says Tom Elseth, Equinor’s project director for Gudrun.

Equinor said on Tuesday that the water injection project will produce water from the Utsira formation and reinject it into the reservoir for pressure support and increased production. In addition, a new production well will be drilled.

“Production on the Gudrun field is declining, and for that reason we have looked at ways of increasing field production together with our partners,” said Equinor.

Marit Lunde, vice president for Gudrun operations in Development & Production Norway, stated: “This is a good example of how we secure long-term activity on the Norwegian continental shelf. Based on deeper understanding of the reservoir and technology development we are able to increase the recovery rate and value creation from the field while extending the field life to 2032, three years longer than originally scheduled in the plan for development and operation (PDO).”

The measures implemented to extend the field life are referred to as Gudrun phase 2.

The Gudrun PDO was approved by Norwegian authorities in 2010 and the field came on stream in 2014. Seven wells are currently in production on the field.

“The accommodation on the Gudrun platform is small. To be able to carry out offshore modifications and complete the work by 2021, we must use the Rowan Stavanger rig while it is carrying out scheduled production drilling on the field,” says Elseth.

The rig will have catering capacity for personnel involved in both drilling and installation activities.

Aibel gets contract for water injection plant 

A contract for detail engineering, fabrication, installation and start-up of the water injection plant has been awarded to the service company Aibel. The contract value is around NOK 500 million ($58.4M).

In addition, Aibel has been awarded work with other oil wells on the Gudrun field during the same period. In total the contract value is around NOK 600 million.

At peak, approximately 160 people from Aibel will be involved in the project both onshore and on the offshore installation.

Equinor and its license partners plan to start up the water injection plant during 2021.

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