PGNiG acquires interest in North Sea licenses, balancing interests with Equinor

June 4, 2024

PGNiG will add 19.5% interests in certain North Sea production licenses through a deal with operating partner Equinor.

Equinor-operated Gina Krog field in the North Sea.

PGNiG Upstream Norway AS has agreed to acquire 19.5% interests in North Sea production licenses PL 048E (Eirin field) and PL 1201 from Equinor Energy AS.

Eirin is a gas field 250 km west of Stavanger in 120 m of water. Its plan for development and operation (PDO)—as a subsea tieback to the Gina Krog platform by production pipeline and umbilical cable—was approved in January 2024 (OGJ Online, Sept. 15, 2023).

Eirin volumes will be sent on from Gina Krog for further processing. Condensate will be exported from Gina Krog to the Sleipner A platform via a new oil pipeline currently under construction. The rich gas will be transported by pipeline to the Sleipner A platform for further processing. Sales gas is exported from the Sleipner A platform via Gassled to the market, while unstabilized condensate is exported to the terminal at Kårstø.

The subsea template is under construction in Egersund and is scheduled for installation in the summer of 2024.

Combined with electrification of the Gina Krog, the Eirin development will extend the lifetime of Gina Krog field, and production from Eirin and Gina Krog will produce only 3 kg of CO₂/boe.

According to Norwegian Offshore Directorate records, Equinor currently owns 78.2% in both licenses and PGNiG holds the remaining interests.

About the Author

Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor

Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).