Green light to Lundin for North Sea field start-up

Oil and gas company Lundin Energy has received consent from Norwegian authorities for the start-up of the Solveig field in the North Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) said on Thursday that the operator Lundin plans to start up the field this autumn.

Solveig, located in production licence 359, will produce from subsea production facilities tied into the Edvard Grieg field, 15 kilometres away. The oil and gas will be processed there before further transport.

Phase 1 consists of three wells for oil production, along with two wells that will be used to inject water. The field is expected to produce up to 2041. The investment decision for Phase 2 will come later, based on experience and information from Phase 1.

The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) estimated recoverable reserves from Solveig at 9.2 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil equivalent in Phase 1. This is distributed between 6.98 million Sm3 oil (44 million bbls), 1.44 billion Sm3 sales gas and 0.42 million tonnes NGL.

Lundin filed the plan back in March 2019 and approved by Norwegian authorities in June of the same year.

The PDO estimated total investments in Phase 1 at about NOK 6.5 billion (2019-kroner), which is about $748.4 million.

Lundin has also recently started production from the extended well test (EWT) at its Rolvsnes field – the first subsea tie-back development for the Edvard Grieg platform. The resource estimate for the Rolvsnes field is between 14 and 78 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) gross.