Equinor and its partners in Gullfaks oil field in the Norwegian North Sea’s Tampen area will drill 7 wells believed to improve oil recovery by 17 million bbl with good profitability.
The amended plan for development and operation (PDO) submitted to Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy calls for additional resource recovery with water injection and production wells in the Shetland-Lista Phase 2 development. The planned horizontal wells will be drilled in the Shetland Group, a carbonate reservoir that lies above the main reservoir at Gullfaks, using existing facilities.
A 2012 well test proved the reservoir had oil production potential. Since 2013, the Gullfaks partners have invested more than 1 billion kroner in production wells in the formation, which have so far produced more than 6 million bbl of oil from Shetland-Lista Phase 1.
“These formations that used to pose a challenge are now due to producing at a break-even below $30/bbl,” said Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice-president for development and production, Norway.
Oil from Shetland-Lista is a small contribution to the total Gullfaks reserves, but a major contributor to the remaining field potential, the company said. The project also will deepen knowledge of carbonate reservoir production, which can be used in other parts of the world.
Equinor serves as operator with 51%. Partners are Petoro 30%, and OMV 19%.
The original PDO stated a field life up to 2005. In 2016, a plan to extend the field life to 2034 was approved.
