Statoil Starts Production at Morvin Subsea Oil and Gas Development in the Norwegian Sea

02 August 2010

Norwegian major Statoil started production from its Morvin oil and gas field on November 1, 2010, via a subsea tieback.

Located on Block 6506/11 in the Norwegian Sea, about 20 kilometers west of the Asgard B platform on the Halten Bank, Morvin was developed with two subsea templates and four production wells. The development is tied to the Asgard B production platform for processing via a 20-kilometer-long pipeline.

The Morvin reservoir is located at a depth of 4,500 meters. A high-pressure, high-temperature field, Aker Solutions was contracted for the Morvin subsea production system. Acergy supplied the flexible riser and umbilicals on the project.

“The field is strategically important for further development and operation of activities in the Norwegian Sea,” says Ivar Aasheim, head of the Operations North cluster in Statoil. “Utilising existing infrastructure and installations was imperative for developing the field.”

Contributing to production on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, initial production rates at Morvin will reach 24,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. After the start-up of the second Morvin production well, production rates are expected to jump to 51,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Boasting estimated recoverable reserves of 70 million barrels of oil equivalent, Morvin is expected to have a 15-year production life.

While Morvin was first discovered in 2001, the plan for development and operation (PDO) of the field was not submitted to the Norwegian authorities until 2008.l Approval was then granted in two months.

Investments for the Morvin development reached US $1.45 billion (NOK 8.7 billion).

Statoil is the operator of the Morvin field with 64 percent interest. Project partners include Italian producer Eni with 30 percent interest and French major Total (NYSE:TOT) with 6 percent interest.