Equinor begins production at subsea oil field offshore Norway
(WO) – On 8 April, production started from the Bauge subsea oil field in the Norwegian Sea. Bauge is tied back to the recently upgraded Njord platform. Recoverable reserves in Bauge are estimated at 50 MMboe, mainly oil.
Bauge consists of two oil producers in a subsea template, in addition to pipelines and an umbilical connecting the wells to the Njord A platform. The Bauge licensees are Equinor (operator), Wintershall Dea, Vår Energi and Neptune Energy.
“The subsea facility was built and installed without a single HSE incident. I am very proud of this, and I would like to thank our suppliers, particularly the main suppliers Randaberg Industries, Ocean Installer and OneSubsea. This shows that the zero-harm vision is possible. Capital expenditures totaling NOK 4.6 billion (2023) the project was delivered within budget," says Trond Bokn, Equinor's Senior Vice President for Project Development.
The Norwegian content of the Bauge project is well over 90%. The wells were delivered faster than planned by Transocean and Schlumberger.
Bauge was discovered in 2013, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in June 2017.
The project has been run in parallel with the extensive upgrading of Njord A (Aker Solutions) and the Njord Bravo FSO (Aibel).
“The Njord upgrading enables us to tie in new, valuable discoveries such as Bauge. By utilizing existing infrastructure, we can realize profitable development of small-size discoveries in line with the company's strategy. We are planning further exploration activity in the area," says Grete B. Haaland, Senior Vice President for Exploration & Production North.
The Njord field came on stream in 1997. In 2016, the installations were brought ashore for extensive upgrading and in December 2022 the field came on stream again.
The field will now produce for another 20 years, and the ambition is to produce about the same volume from Njord and Hyme as the fields have produced so far, some 250 MMboe.
