First oil flows at Norway’s first unmanned platform
Norwegian oil giant Equinor has kicked off oil production from its Oseberg Vestflanken 2 field in the North Sea.
The field has been developed using the new Oseberg H platform, the first unmanned platform on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
The platform is controlled remotely from the Oseberg field centre. Recoverable resources at the field are 110 million barrels, and the project was delivered far below budget, according to Equinor.
“With Oseberg H we take a huge technological leap forward. The fully automatic, unmanned and remote-operated platform is digitalisation in practice, and I am proud of Equinor and its partners having chosen this in-house developed solution,” said Anders Opedal, Equinor’s executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling.
The project was delivered at NOK 6.5 billion, more than 20% lower than the cost estimate of the plan for development and operation (PDO). The breakeven price is reduced from US$34 to below US$20 per barrel, further strengthening a development that is already highly profitable, Equinor said on the 15th October.
Partners in the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 production licence: Equinor Energy AS (49.3%), Petoro AS (33.6%), Total E&P Norge AS (14.7%) and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (2.4%).
Source: Offshore Energy Today