Equinor has secured partner support for two Norwegian projects with a combined investment of Nkr11.1Bn (US$1.33Bn)
Its partners Petoro, Shell, Total and ConocoPhillips have agreed to progress with the Nkr7.9Bn (US$940M) Troll West electrification project in the North Sea.
In a separate announcement, Equinor said Petoro, Total, Neptune and Wintershall Dea have agreed to invest Nkr3.2Bn (US$380M) in the record-breaking Askeladd Vest development in the Barents Sea.
Both projects will increase demand for subsea installation and support vessels in Norway, which remains a key market for the major offshore engineering companies and offshore support vessel owners.
Equinor plans to lay electric cables in the North Sea to link to two production semi-submersibles, Troll B and Troll C, to shore power generation. The project is expected to cut CO2 emissions by almost 500,000 tonnes per year, representing more than 3% of total emissions from oil and gas production in Norway. NOx emissions from the field will be reduced by some 1,700 tonnes per year as generators on the floating platforms are switched off.
“Electrification is essential to successfully reducing the emissions from the Norwegian Continental Shelf, and we have ambitious plans for this,” said Equinor executive vice president for development and production in Norway Kjetil Hove.
“The partnership’s decision to electrify Troll B and Troll C will cut emissions substantially. The Troll area will deliver enormous volumes of low-emissions energy for many decades, adding great value for the companies and for Norway,” he said.
Troll West electrification includes full electrification of Troll C, and partial electrification of Troll B, with power sourced from shore. In addition, the two gas export compressors on Troll C currently driven by gas turbines will be replaced by electric motors. Under this project, a high-voltage subsea cable will be laid from Kollsnes, west of Bergen, to Troll B, and from Troll B to Troll C.
NKT has the contract for the production and installation of the high-voltage subsea cables. They will be manufactured in Karlskrona, Sweden and installed using vessel NKT Victoria.
Aker Solutions has an Nkr2.9Bn engineering, procurement, construction and installation contract for modifications enabling the Troll B and C topsides to receive power from shore. Skanska has the contract for the construction of a new transformer substation, cable trenches and landfall at Kollsnes.
In the Barents Sea, Equinor and its partners will link the Askeladd Vest field to the LNG production facilities at Melkoya, near Hammerfest by H2 2024. Askeladd Vest is part of the multi-phased Snøhvit development and will extend plateau production at the LNG plant by at least two years.
“By increasing the resource base for Hammerfest LNG, Askeladd Vest will be an important contribution in supporting our ambition of a long-term presence in the north,” said Equinor senior vice president for operations in northern Norway Kristin Westvik.
A subsea template on Askeladd Vest will be tied back to the Askeladd field through a pipeline and an umbilical. This project will break the record for the longest distance ever to a subsea tie-back development as Askeladd Vest is 195 km from the onshore production plant at Melkøya.
TechnipFMC will be responsible for pipelaying and subsea installation services for the Askeladd Vest project. Pipes for the project have been supplied by the German manufacturer Butting and are stored at the Orkanger spool base.
Nexans has a letter of intent for the fabrication of umbilicals for the project. It will fabricate fibre-optic cables and power cables at a plant in Rognan and will assemble umbilicals and load them on to installation vessels in Halden.
Aker Solutions has a contract to produce subsea production facilities, comprising a subsea template and two production trees with associated components at sites in Sandnessjøen and Egersund.
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