Improved recovery from Gudrun
The Gudrun partners have decided to invest in a water injection plant on the Gudrun field to improve reservoir recovery. This will extend the field life by three years compared to the original plan.
“We are pleased about the partnership’s decision to invest NOK 2.4 billion in further development of the Gudrun field. Water injection will improve recovery from the reservoir and utilize existing infrastructure on the field. This is a robust and good project,” says Tom Elseth, Equinor’s project director for Gudrun.
The water injection project will produce water from the Utsira formation and reinject it into the reservoir for pressure support and increased production. In addition, a new production well will be drilled.
Production on the Gudrun field is declining, and for that reason we have looked at ways of increasing field production together with our partners.
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“This is a good example of how we secure long-term activity on the Norwegian continental shelf. Based on deeper understanding of the reservoir and technology development we are able to increase the recovery rate and value creation from the field while extending the field life to 2032, three years longer than originally scheduled in the plan for development and operation (PDO),” says Marit Lunde, vice president for Gudrun operations in Development & Production Norway.
The measures implemented to extend the field life are referred to as Gudrun phase 2.
The Gudrun PDO was approved by Norwegian authorities in 2010 and the field came on stream in 2014. Seven wells are currently in production on the field.
“The accommodation on the Gudrun platform is small. To be able to carry out offshore modifications and complete the work by 2021, we must use the Rowan Stavanger rig while it is carrying out scheduled production drilling on the field,” says Elseth.
The rig will have catering capacity for personnel involved in both drilling and installation activities.
Contract
A contract for detail engineering, fabrication, installation and start-up of the water injection plant has been awarded to the service company Aibel. The contract value is around NOK 500 million. In addition, Aibel has been awarded work with other oil wells on the Gudrun field during the same period. In total the contract value is around NOK 600 million. At peak, approximately 160 people from Aibel will be involved in the project both onshore and on the offshore installation.
Equinor and its licence partners plan to start up the water injection plant during 2021.
- Licensees: Equinor (operator) 36%, Neptune 25%, OMV 24%, Repsol 15%.
- Gudrun is developed with a traditional steel platform resting on the seabed. The platform has capacity for partial treatment of oil and gas, before the hydrocarbons are sent via pipeline to Sleipner.
- The Gudrun field holds about 184 million barrels of oil equivalent. This is a high pressure, high temperature reservoir that requires special technology. Equinor is actively using experience and technology gained from the Kvitebjørn and Kristin developments.
- Oil and gas is transported from the Gudrun field to the Sleipner A platform. The gas is transported onward to the gas markets from Sleipner A. The oil is routed together with the Sleipner condensate to Kårstø for shipping.
- The Gudrun field is located in the middle of the North Sea in licence area PL025, about 55 kilometres north of the Sleipner installations.
- Production started 7 April 2014.