Equinor brings online one of the most profitable projects in history

Norwegian energy giant Equinor started production from the Troll phase 3 project in the North Sea off Norway on Friday 27 August.

The new wells are tied in to the Troll A platform and Troll phase 3 will extend the platform’s life past 2050. Announcing the start-up on Monday, Equinor said that the project has a break-even price below 10 dollars and CO2 emissions of less than 0.1 kg per barrel oil equivalent.

Recoverable volumes from Troll phase 3, which will produce the Troll West gas cap, are estimated at as much as 347 billion cubic metres of gas. Converted into oil equivalent this amounts to 2.2 billion barrels. Investments are approximately NOK 8 billion (about $908 million).

Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president of Projects, Drilling and Procurement, said: “Troll phase 3 is one of the most profitable projects throughout Equinor’s entire history, while at the same time featuring production with record-low CO2 emissions. This is thanks to large gas reserves and a development solution mostly based on existing infrastructure, such as pipelines, the processing plant at Kollsnes and, not least, the Troll A platform which receives power from shore”.

The Troll partners are Equinor, Petoro, Shell, TotalEnergies, and ConocoPhillips.

Annual state revenues from the Troll phase 3 project alone are estimated at an average of more than NOK 17 billion (2021).

The Troll phase 3 project consists of eight wells in two templates, a new pipeline and umbilical connecting the templates to Troll A as well as a new gas processing module on the platform.

According to Equinor, the annual export volume from Troll is equivalent to approximately 8 per cent of the EU’s gas consumption, and the further development of the Troll field also reinforces Norway’s ability to secure gas deliveries to Europe in the coming decades.

Troll phase 3 has also felt the effects of Covid-19. The original start-up date for the project was in the second quarter of 2021, but pandemic-related labour shortages and infection control measures have somewhat delayed the start-up.

Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s executive vice president for Exploration and Production Norway, said: “Troll phase 3 will extend the life of Troll A and the Kollsnes processing plant beyond 2050, and the plateau period by 5-7 years. This will help secure jobs offshore, at Sandsli and at Kollsnes for both Equinor and its suppliers for several decades into the future”.