Stamp of approval for ConocoPhillips’ $1.2 billion North Sea project to come on stream

ConocoPhillips Skandinavia, a subsidiary of the U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips, has been given the green light to start production from a project tied to one of the fields in the Greater Ekofisk Area, which is located in the southern part of the North Sea.

ConocoPhillips submitted a plan for development and operation (PDO) of the Eldfisk North project to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in May 2022, as the operator of the Greater Ekofisk Area together with its license partners: TotalEnergies EP Norge, Vår Energi, Equinor, and Petoro. The PDO was approved in December 2022. The project’s greenhouse gas emissions intensity is estimated at seven kg CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent.  

According to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, consent to bring the Eldfisk North project online has now been given to ConocoPhillips, and the start-up is expected during the first quarter. The project, which is targeting additional resources in the Eldfisk field, comes with two seabed templates for production and one for water injection with 14 wells encompassing nine producers and five water injectors.

The Eldfisk North will be tied back to the Eldfisk Complex in the North Sea, while the resource potential of this project is estimated to be around 50-90 million barrels of oil equivalent. The new greenfield facilities will be located about seven kilometers north of the Eldfisk Complex. The total capital investment associated with the project amounts to nearly NOK 13 billion or $1.24 billion.

Located in block 2/7, about 16 kilometers south of Ekofisk, Eldfisk is said to be the second-largest of three producing fields in the Greater Ekofisk Area and one of the largest on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). Following discovery in 1970, the field’s original PDO was approved in 1975.

The Greater Ekofisk Area consists of three producing fields – Ekofisk, Eldfisk, and Embla – and the production from these fields is transported via the Ekofisk Complex to the receiving terminals in Emden, Germany (gas) and Teesside, UK (oil).

ConocoPhillips is working on several oil and gas projects, including those in Australia. The firm also recently kicked off production from a cross-border field in the North Sea six months ahead of schedule, ensuring more Norwegian gas for the energy market.

The approval for the start of production from the Eldfisk North project comes only a day after the Norwegian Offshore Directorate gave a similar one to Aker BP for the Hanz field in the North Sea. This project will be tied back to the Ivar Aasen platform.