Neptune’s output from North Sea hub swells thanks to tie-backs

Oil and gas company Neptune Energy has increased production from its operated Gjøa platform in the Norwegian North Sea by two million barrels of oil equivalents (boe) from 2020 to 2021, driven by additional subsea tie-back developments.

Gross production over the Gjøa platform ended at 42 million boe in 2021, compared with 40 million boe in 2020. As detailed by Neptune on Wednesday, 76 per cent of the production was gas, all of which is exported through the FLAGS pipeline to the St. Fergus Gas Terminal in the UK.

Neptune, as the operator of the field, revealed that the increased production was due mainly to production start-up from the Gjøa P1 infill development in February and the Duva field tie-back in August 2021.

The Gjøa P1 was developed via a new subsea template, tied back to existing infrastructure on the Gjøa field. It is a two-well development with one oil and one gas producer. The Duva oil and gas field was developed as a subsea installation with three oil producers and one gas producer, also tied back to the Gjøa semi-submersible platform.

In addition, production from the tie-back field Vega, operated by Wintershall Dea, and the Gjøa field itself, has been better than expected, Neptune explained. The Vega field is located 28 kilometres west of the Gjøa platform and developed with three underwater templates tied back to the platform.

Neptune also noted that estimated reserves on the Gjøa field have increased by 38 per cent since the Plan for Development and Production was approved in 2007.

Neptune Energy’s Head of Operations in Norway, Martin Borthne, said: “Our ambition to develop the Gjøa platform into a host facility and a hub for nearby discoveries has succeeded. This has not only prolonged the life of the Gjøa platform itself, but has resulted in far higher value creation than expected at start-up. Successful utilisation of the Gjøa infrastructure as a hub is further seen as a critical enabler for continued exploration and development in this part of the North Sea.”

Borthne added: “This year we expect to bring on stream a fourth tie-in field to the Gjøa facilities – Wintershall Dea’s Nova field. In addition, we plan to drill two exploration wells in the area and continue to mature other nearby discoveries and exploration opportunities as tie-in candidates.”

According to Borthne, Neptune expects that the Gjøa hub will be in operation until 2040 and create value in this area of the North Sea for years to come.

As previously reported, the Nova field is expected to start production in the second half of 2022. Wintershall Dea started the last part of the Nova drilling campaign from the Scarabeo 8 semi-submersible rig in November 2021, after originally starting the campaign using the West Mira rig and later pausing due to an incident with a x-mas tree. Once online, the Nova field will be the fourth subsea field in production for the company.