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ENERGY NEWS
By Tsvetana Paraskova
Europe
Energy Review
New oil and gas field start-ups and a number of offshore wind plans and projects, including bids from major oil firms for Scotland’s leasing round, featured in Europe’s energy news over the past month.
Oil & Gas
laying a 36-inch pipeline, and installing a new process module on the Troll A platform.
In Norway, Equinor started an oilfield, decided to develop more fields, and received approval to work on a new field and expand the production system at another.
Equinor and the partners Petoro, Vår Energi, and Total E&P Norge have decided to develop the Lavrans discovery and the Kristin Q-discovery which is a part of the Kristin field that was put on stream in 2005. The technical life of the Kristin platform is estimated to end in 2034, with possibilities of further life extension to 2042. Production from Lavrans and Kristin Q will be tied into the Kristin platform. A subsea template will be installed at Lavrans, while at Kristin Q an already installed subsea template will be reused. A total of five wells are planned to be drilled, four at Lavrans and one at Kristin Q.
Equinor started up the Martin Linge oil and gas field in the North Sea on 30 June. The field is powered from the shore, resulting in low CO2 emissions, and is operated from its onshore control room. Expected recoverable resources at Martin Linge are around 260 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). At plateau the field will produce around 115,000 boe per day. The Norwegian authorities approved the plan for development and operation (PDO) of the Breidablikk field in the North Sea. Production from the field is scheduled to start in the first half of 2024. Estimated recovery from the field is around 200 million barrels of oil. “The development of one of the largest undeveloped oil discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) will create substantial value for Norwegian society and the owners, while securing high activity and jobs for many years ahead,” says Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Projects, Drilling and Procurement. The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has also given Equinor the consent to use the Troll Phase 3 subsea production system on the Troll field. The subsea production system involves the construction of subsea well templates, the drilling of eight production wells,
www.ogv.energy I August 2021
Aker Solutions and AF Gruppen signed on 1 July a Letter of Intent (LOI) to merge the two companies’ existing offshore decommissioning operations into a 50/50 owned company, to create a leading global player for environmentally friendly recycling of offshore assets. Bristow Group Inc announced four separate two-year contract extensions through April 2024 with Equinor, Shell, and Neptune to support its air transportation crew change services for their operations in the Norwegian continental shelf. Equinor extended its Bristow contract at the Bergen base for two years to end of April 2024, with additional two one-year options to extend. Equinor, Shell, and Neptune Energy also prolonged their Bristow contract at the Florø base for two years to April 2024, with additional two oneyear options to extend.
Low-Carbon Energy Every UK job has the potential to be green, according to a new independent, expert report published on 14 July and backed by the UK government. Independent Green Jobs Taskforce issued a call to action on how the UK can deliver a green industrial revolution with government, business, and the education sector working together. The UK government reaffirmed its commitment to supporting workers as the economy transitions to a low-carbon future with a package of green skills programmes, helping adults of all ages gain the skills needed to progress into green jobs. The steps would be crucial to support the government’s ambition to create 2 million skilled green jobs by 2030 and build back greener from the pandemic. The UK government also said it would bring forward the deadline to phase out coal from Great Britain’s energy system by a year to October 2024. The earlier retirement of coal from the power system is a key step in UK government’s plans to decarbonise the power sector and eliminate the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050, the government said. ScotWind, the first round of Offshore Wind Leasing in Scottish waters for a decade, has received 74 applications from developers looking for the rights to build projects across the 15 areas of seabed available for development, Crown Estate Scotland said on 22 July after the application deadline ended. “The high number of applications from developers shows just how much potential Scotland’s seas hold for the future expansion of offshore wind. There is now a huge amount of work to do in assessing every application thoroughly and fairly so that the strongest
