Equinor approved to advance Irpa, Verdande, Andvare

Equinor Energy AS has been granted approval by Norwegian authorities to develop and operate subsea fields Irpa and Verdande, as well as production well Andvare in the Norwegian Sea.

Irpa gas field will be tied back to Aasta Hansteen, and Verdande oil field and the Andvare well will be tied back to Norne (OGJ Online, Nov. 22, 2022; Dec. 6, 2022) .

Irpa

Irpa field lies about 80 km from Aasta Hansteen field and is expected to extend the field’s productive life by 7 years to 2039. The second subsea field tied back to Aasta Hansteen, Irpa will be the deepest field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, at 1,350 m, the operator said.

Westcon Helgeland will deliver large parts of the Irpa subsea infrastructure as a TechnipFMC subcontractor (OGJ Online, Feb. 16, 2023). Momek in Mo i Rana is a subcontractor of Aibel, responsible for modifying the platform for Irpa gas tie-in.

Equinor is operator of the field with 51% interest. Partners are Wintershall Dea (19%), Petoro (20%), and A/S Norske Shell (10%).

Irpa, formerly Asterix, was discovered in 2009. It holds recoverable resources estimated at 20 billion standard cu m of gas and 0.4 standard cu m of condensates, or about 124 MMboe total. Capital expenditures of NOK 14.8 billion are expected to reach planned start up in fourth-quarter 2026.

Gas will be phased into existing Aasta Hansteen infrastructure and transported through Polarled to the Nyhamna processing plant. From there, the gas will be transported through the Langeled pipeline system to European customers.

Verande

Verdande, an oil discovery with some associated gas, will be tied back to Norne, extending the productive life of the field by several years, Equinor said. Verdande, which consists of Cape Vulture and Alve Northeast discoveries, lies in the Norwegian Sea in 350-380 m of water about 300 km southwest of Bodø. The discoveries were proven in 2017 and 2020, respectively.

Recoverable resources of 36 MMboe, mainly oil, are expected. At the time of the plan for development submittal in 2022, capital expenditures were estimated at NOK 4.7 billion.

Planned start-up is set for fourth-quarter 2025.

A contract was let to Aibel, who will make modifications to the FPSO related to Andvare, a well that will be drilled as a side-track from one of the existing subsea templates on Norne field.

Equinor is operator of the field with 59.3% interest. Partners are Petoro AS (22.4%), Vår Energi ASA (10.5%), Aker BP ASA (7.0%), and PGNIG Upstream Norway AS (0.8%).

Andvare

The Andvare well will also be tied back to Norne field. Recoverable resources are estimated at just under 2 billion cu m of gas (OGJ Online, Mar. 28, 2023). Startup is expected in 2024 with anticipated capital expenditure of NOK 500 million.

Equinor is operator with 53% interest. Partners are DNO Norge AS (32%) and PGNiG Upstream Norway AS (15%).