Statoil finds buyer for Huldra platform

Norwegian oil giant Statoil has reportedly found a buyer for its Huldra platform, which has been on sale since 2011.

According to Offshore.no, a Norwegian news website covering oil & gas industry in the Scandinavian country, the new owner of the platform if everything goes according to plans, will be ConocoPhillips.

To remind, in 2011, Statoil placed an advert for the Huldra platform on Finn.no, a Norwegian classified advertisements website, when using a real-estate jargon the oil giant wrote: “Well kept 20 bedroom platform for sale. Panorama sea view and plenty of room for a helicopter. Only your imagination limits what it can be used for.”

Production from Huldra, in the Norwegian part of the North Sea was stopped in September 2014. 

Offshore.no, citing sources in ConocoPhillips, wrote that the new owner plans to use the Huldra platform for development of the Tommeliten Alpha discovery, located in the Norwegian North Sea, west of the Ekofisk field. The company’s spokesperson has told Offshore.no that studies will be made throughout 2015, with a possible final investment decision expected in 2016. Subject to the final investment decision being made, production from the Tommeliten Alpha is expected in 2019. The platform would first need to be brought onshore for refurbishment.

According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the Tommeliten Alpha discovery contains gas and condensate in three levels of Paleocene and Cretaceous chalk. The reservoir lies at a depth of about 3 000 metres. Four wells have been drilled on the discovery, the last one in 2003.

Update: January 13, 15:18 CET

Offshore Energy Today has sent an e-mail to ConocoPhillips seeking more information on the potential Huldra deal.

Stig S. Kvendseth, communications manager at ConocoPhillips responded: “ConocoPhillips and the licensees in Tommeliten Alpha have approved concept selection for the development of the field. The development concept is re-use of the Huldra field topsides on a new build steel jacket with tie-in to the Ekofisk Complex.

“Front End Engineering Design (FEED) studies will run through 2015 with an possible investment decision planned for first part of 2016.
The plan is for the Huldra field topside to be lifted off the jacket, transported to shore for necessary modifications and then installed on a new jacket in the Tommeliten Alpha field.

“The re-use will give environmental benefits and is a cost effective solution for the development of the Tommeliten Alpha field as well as for the Huldra licence.

“Subject to the project being sanctioned in early 2016, production from Tommeliten Alpha could start as early as 2019.”

Tommeliten Alpha is a gas condensate discovery in PL044, west-southwest of the Ekofisk field.

Offshore Energy Today Staff