Equinor ASA and its partners have started production in Kristin South in Norwegian Sea. A production equivalent of 58.2 million barrels of oil is expected in the first phase of development, the Norwegian majority state-owned company said Monday.
The initial phase consists of the Kristin Q and Lavrans discoveries, being developed as satellites to the already producing Kristin field. The plan for development and operation (PDO) was submitted 2021 and approved 2022.
The estimated recovery in the first phase consists of 6.2 billion cubic meters (219 billion cubic feet) of natural gas and 1.9 million cubic meters (67.1 million cubic feet) of oil.
The Kristin well will be drilled from an existing subsea template that is connected to a semisubmersible facility. One well in the Lavrans field has been put into production so far under the Kristin South project, through a new subsea template tied back to the Kristin field platform. Four more wells are planned as part of phase one of Kristin South, consisting of three in the Lavrans field and one in the Q-segment in the Kristin field.
Equinor stated in a statement that the gas is going to be exported to the European market through the pipeline system, while the oil will be transported to the market by ship via the Asgard C storage vessel.
“The Kristin South project demonstrates our strategy to create value by developing existing infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf”, highlighted Trond Bokn, senior vice president for project development at Equinor.
While Grete B. Haaland, a senior vice president for exploration and production at Equinor, described the development as a key milestone in the plan to continue to develop new resources in a mature area in the Norwegian Sea.
Kristin was discovered in 1997, southwest of the Asgard field. It started production in 2005. Kristin has remaining reserves of about 16.7 million cubic meters (589.8 million cubic feet) of oil equivalent, mostly gas.
