Equinor balances Gina Krog partnership with Eirin subsea tie-back sale to PGNiG
(WO) – Equinor is selling 19.5% interests in production licenses PL 048E, which is the Eirin field, and PL 1201, to PGNiG Upstream Norway AS (PGNiG). With this, the ownership between Equinor and PGNiG in these licenses will be balanced with the Gina Krog field.
The plan for development and operation (PDO) for Eirin was approved in January 2024, and the field will be developed as a subsea facility tied back to the Gina Krog platform. The subsea template is under construction in Egersund and is scheduled for installation in the summer of 2024.
"Balanced partnerships will make it easier to coordinate decisions in the licenses to optimize production and enhance value creation from the area. Together with the electrification of the platform, the Eirin development will extend the lifetime of the Gina Krog field, which supplies gas to Europe with low emissions from production and transport," says Camilla Salthe, Equinor's senior vice president for late-life fields.
Production license PL 1201 was awarded in this year's Awards in Predefined Areas (APA). Any discoveries in this license could make use of Eirin's infrastructure and be tied back to the Gina Krog platform.
Background. Eirin is a gas field located 250 km west of Stavanger. The field was proven in 1978 and is located at a depth of about 4000 m. Water depth at the field is about 120 m.
The field will be developed as a subsea facility that will be adapted and prepared as a tie-in point for future discoveries in the area that can be expanded with new wells. The development concept is a subsea template tied back to Gina Krog by a production pipeline and umbilical cable.
The volumes from Eirin are received at Gina Krog and will then be sent on for further processing. Condensate from the Eirin gas will be exported to Sleipner A via a new oil pipeline from Gina Krog to Sleipner A which is under construction.
The rich gas will be transported by pipeline to the Sleipner A facility for further processing. Sales gas is exported from the Sleipner A facility via Gassled to the market, while unsterilized condensate is exported to the terminal at Kårstø.
With the electrification of Gina Krog and partial electrification of Sleipner, production from Eirin and Gina Krog will have low emissions from production of three kilograms of CO2 per boe.