NPD gives go-ahead for Edvard Grieg production start-up

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has granted consent to start production from the Lundin Norway AS-operated Edvard Grieg field on Production License 338 in the North Sea.

Production is expected to begin toward yearend. Development costs have increased slightly, but within the uncertainty range of plus-minus 20% in the plan for development and operation investment projections, NPD says.

Edvard Grieg—on the Utsira High about 35 km south of Grane and Balder fields—is developed with a standalone processing platform on a steel-jacket structure (OGJ Online, Apr. 14, 2015).

Oil will be transported through the Edvard Grieg oil pipeline (EGOP) to the Grane pipeline, and then on to the Sture terminal north of Bergen. Gas will be transported via the Utsira High gas pipeline (UHGP), which is tied-in to the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (SAGE) pipeline on the UK side.

The NPD earlier this month greenlighted start-up of the EGOP and UHGP systems (OGJ Online, Nov. 6, 2015).

Oil and gas from neighboring Ivar Aasen field will be processed on Edvard Grieg, and then routed through the same transport systems. Production start-up on Ivar Aasen is scheduled for late 2016.