Equinor, Petoro and OMV, all partners of Norway's fourth largest oil field Gullfaks, agreed to drill seven new wells to improve oil recovery by 17 million barrels while boosting profitability, Equinor reported on Tuesday.
The Norwegian company said the wells will be drilled in the Shetland Group, a carbonate reservoir that lies above the main reservoir at the North Sea Gullfaks field.
On behalf of the license partners, Equinor’s Executive Vice President for Development and Production in Norway, Arne Sigve Nylund, presented an amended plan for development and operation (PDO) to the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Kjell-Borge Freiberg, on Tuesday.
"Our ambition is to maintain profitable production from the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) for several decades. Wells that can be drilled fast and at a low cost, near existing infrastructure, will be a major contributor," Nylund said.
According to Equinor, drilling on Gullfaks is challenging due to the carbonate reservoir.
"A well test in 2012 proved, however, that this reservoir also had oil production potential. The Gullfaks partners have therefore invested more than one billion Norwegian Krone ($117 million) in production wells in this formation since 2013, which have so far produced more than six million barrels of oil," the company explained.
Equnior said as this reservoir could potentially produce more oil by using water injection, the authorities requested that the Gullfaks partners submit an amended PDO in 2019.
"The Gullfaks partners are now ready to recover even more resources by use of water injection and new production wells. A total of seven horizontal wells is planned to be drilled by the use of existing drilling facilities on Gullfaks," the company added.
"These formations that used to pose a challenge are now due to producing at a break-even below $30 per barrel - I find that to be a nice bonus from Gullfaks,” Nylund concluded.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
