Equinor ASA has found a 2-11 billion cubic meters (Bcm) pure gasoline reserve on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) as part of its foray into deepwater exploration close to current license blocks to unlock extra provides for Europe.
Dubbed the Obelix Upflank, the invention was made round 14 miles from Equinor’s prolific Irpa discovery. Late final 12 months, the Norwegian agency and its companions requested for regulatory approval to start deepwater exploration in Irpa and different blocks round its Aasta Hansteen offshore platform north of the Arctic Circle to route extra gasoline to the UK and western Europe.
Grete Haaland, senior vice chairman for Exploration and Manufacturing North, stated the agency and its companions are actually contemplating the feasibility of tying the invention again to Irpa so the extra gasoline could possibly be routed to its Nyhamna processing plant.
[Newly Updated: NGI’s 2023 Map of North American Natural Gas Pipelines, LNG Facilities, Shale Plays & Market Hubs includes 200+ pipelines, 160+ market hubs, 60 LNG terminals, 40+ storage facilities, and more. Get your map today.]
“We have to discover extra gasoline on the NCS,” Haaland stated. “Discoveries close to current infrastructure require much less quantity with a view to be commercially developed, and may be shortly placed on stream” with decreased carbon emissions.
Equinor would function and be majority proprietor in Irpa with a 51% stake, with Wintershall holding 19%, Petoro at 20% and Shell plc with 10%.
Equinor’s improvement plan is estimated to increase the lifespan of Aasta Hansteen infrastructure to 2039. Found in 2009 and beforehand named Asterix, Irpa is estimated to comprise 124 million boe in pure gasoline and condensate.
Tapping beforehand undeveloped reserves within the Vøring Basin deep beneath the Norwegian Sea would require Equinor’s engineering groups to adapt its pipelines to deal with sub-zero temperatures almost one mile beneath the ocean’s floor, in response to the agency.
Equinor has agreed to provide Poland and Denmark via the brand new Baltic Pipe System, which got here on-line in October. State-owned Polish Oil and Fuel Co. signed a deal to yearly buy 2.4 Bcm, or about 84 Bcf/12 months, for 10 years. Earlier within the month, Equinor inked an settlement with Denmark’s Ørsted AS to provide round 27.3 Bcf over 16 months.
Utilities within the UK even have been trying to Equinor and Norwegian manufacturing as a potential supply of extra pure gasoline provide.
Norwegian pure gasoline manufacturing reached 122 Bcm final 12 months and is predicted to stay at heightened ranges till the top of the last decade, in response to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
