Equinor lets subsea production system contracts to TechnipFMC

Equinor Energy has let contracts to TechnipFMC for the subsea production systems for the Equinor-operated Verdande and Irpa projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Each contract, valued by the service provider at $75-$250 million, was awarded under an existing framework agreement and covers the complete subsea production system including subsea trees and structures, control systems, connections, and tooling.

Verlande

Comprising the Cape Vulture and Alve North-East discoveries, Verdande lies in water depths of 350-380 m, around 300 km southwest of Bodø in North Norway.

The discoveries were proven in 2017 and 2020, respectively, and contain a total of 36.3 million bbl of recoverable oil equivalent, according to Equinor. Project development involves a subsea tieback to the Norne FPSO via a new tubing. The oil will be lifted by a tanker and the gas will be piped via Åsgard Transport to Kårstø.

Drilling at Verdande is expected to begin in fourth-quarter 2024 with a production start of fourth-quarter 2025.

Verdande license owners: Equinor Energy AS – operator - (59.3 %), Petoro AS (22.4 %), Vår Energi ASA (10.5 %), Aker BP ASA (7.0 %), PGNIG Upstream Norway AS (0.8 %).

Irpa

The Irpa oil and gas development (formerly Asterix) lies at a depth of about 1,350 m in the Norwegian Sea, 340 km offshore Bodø, with expected recoverable gas reserves estimated at almost 20 billion standard cu m, as well as 0.4 million standard cu m in condensate​s.

Irpa will be developed with three wells and an 80-km tieback to the Aasta Hansteen platform. A newly developed insulated pipe solution will be used due to the extreme cold on the seabed.  Gas from Irpa will be transported via Polarled to the Nyhamna processing plant. From there, gas is transported via the Langeled pipeline system to the UK and continental Europe. The field is expected to come on stream in 2026.

Equinor is operator. Partners are Wintershall DEA, Petoro, and Shell.