On behalf of partners, Equinor has awarded contracts worth around NOK 6 billion for four subsea projects. They are part of the first of several planned subsea development waves, in which contracts are being coordinated to increase pace and reduce costs for subsea developments on the Norwegian continental shelf.
“We envisage around 75 subsea developments towards 2035. To realise these resources, we need to develop smaller discoveries faster and at a lower cost than today. This requires significant changes in how we plan and execute subsea projects. Our ambition is to halve both costs and execution time through simpler processes and standardised solutions together with our partners and suppliers,” says Gunnar Nakken, senior vice president for projects and subsea on the Norwegian continental shelf in Equinor.
Together, the four projects will contribute between 130 and 220 million barrels of oil equivalent to future production from the Norwegian continental shelf.
“We are strengthening competition and predictability and giving suppliers the opportunity to deliver on several projects at the same time. It is essential to reduce costs, and the response from the industry confirms significant improvement potential. We will now scale this collaboration to make marginal discoveries profitable and maintain activity levels on the Norwegian continental shelf,” says Jannicke Nilsson, chief procurement officer.
These are the contracts:
- TechnipFMC will deliver subsea production systems for Brime, Omega Sør and Tyrihans Nord. They will also install rigid pipelines on the Troll field. The linepipe will be supplied by Tenaris.
- OneSubsea will deliver the subsea production system for the TWIN project, as well as umbilicalsfor all the projects.
- Ocean Installer has been awarded the contract for marine operations. They will install and connect the subsea facilities, control cables and flexible pipelines.
- NOV will deliver flexible pipelines to Omega Sør, Tyrihans Nord and Brime.
“This is equipment with long lead times, so we need to invest early if we are to halve the time from discovery to production. We order standard equipment that can be used by later projects if one of the projects in the first wave is not sanctioned by the partnership or approved by the authorities,” says Nakken.
The relevant subsea projects are:
- TWIN, which will be tied back to Troll A
- Omega Sør, which is planned to be tied back to Snorre A
- Tyrihans Nord, which is planned to be produced via the Kristin platform
- Brime, which is planned to be tied back to Gullfaks C via Visund Sør existing template on the seabed
So far, only the TWIN project has been sanctioned by the owners and in accordance with the Petroleum Act the partnership has sent notification to the Ministry of Energy regarding the development. The remaining projects will be processed and sanctioned in accordance with the decision-making processes of the partnerships and the authorities.