Wintershall Dea cleared to deploy well intervention vessel off Norway

German oil and gas giant Wintershall Dea has received consent from the Norwegian offshore safety regulator to use one of Island Offshore’s mobile offshore units (MOU) for light well intervention work on four fields offshore Norway.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) disclosed on Thursday, 26 January 2023, that it had given Wintershall Dea consent to use the Island Constructor vessel for light well intervention on the Norwegian continental shelf on fields in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea.

The 2008-built Island Constructor multi-purpose offshore vessel is of Ulstein SX 121 design. It can accommodate 90 people. The vessel received an Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) from the PSA in April 2010.

The list of fields where the PSA has approved the light well intervention work includes Vega, Maria, Nova and Dvalin offshore fields, which are located in licenses: 248, 248B, 090C, 475, 418 and 435.

Located in the central part of the Norwegian Sea, the Dvalin field consists of two separate structures, Dvalin East and Dvalin West. The first one was proven in 2010 and is located 15 kilometres northwest of the Heidrun field. The water depth at the site is 344 metres. On the other hand, Dvalin West was proven in 2012 and is located 3.5 kilometres west of Dvalin East. It lies in a water depth of 400 metres and the plan for development and production (PDO) was approved in March 2017. The development concept is a subsea template with four gas producers tied back to the Heidrun platform. The production started in 2020.

In addition, Wintershall Dea submitted a PDO for the development of the Dvalin North field in the Norwegian Sea to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in December 2022. It will be developed as a subsea tie-back to the Heidrun platform via the Dvalin field, which will allow this project to utilise existing infrastructure in the region. 

Furthermore, the Maria field is located on Haltenbanken in the Norwegian Sea, 25 kilometres east of the Kristin field. The water depth in the area is 300 metres and this field was discovered in 2010. The plan for development and operation was approved in 2015. The field is developed as a subsea tie-back with two templates. There are five producers and two water injectors on the field. The production at this field started in 2017.

Moreover, the Nova field, which is located in the northern part of the North Sea, 17 kilometres southwest of Gjøa field, lies in a water depth of 370 metres and was discovered in 2012. The field’s PDO was approved in September 2018. The planned development consists of two four-slot subsea templates, one for oil production and one for water injection, each with three wells tied back to the Gjøa platform. The production started in 2022. 

Another tie-back to the Gjøa platform is the Vega field, located in the northern part of the North Sea, 28 kilometres west of the Gjøa field. The water depth in the area is 370 metres and the field has been developed with three subsea templates with four slots, tied to the processing facility on the Gjøa field. The field’s production started in 2010.