Norway’s Statoil has proposed a recommended timeline for the implementation of its innovative NOK 10 billion (US $1.76 billion) plan to supply electrical power from shore to several of its offshore field platforms in the North Sea.
The operator wants an area-wide solution for supplying power to its Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Johan Sverdrup, and Dagny fields, with power deliveries to this part of the Utsira High to start in 2018 following installation in 2017. The timeline will make it possible to study the optimal location of a distribution platform for power and provides a better basis for final design in relation to planning for Johan Sverdrup, which will be the field with the greatest need for power, said the state-owned company.
The study of the electrification solution for Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, and Dagny started in 2010. The discovery of Johan Sverdrup then changed the terms, and the study for new fields on the Utsira High was continued in 2011, it continued.
Statoil’s NOK 10 billion $1.76 billion figure is based on preliminary investment estimates for the solution.
The study was initiated by Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and is led by Statoil, together with operators Lundin and Det Norske Oljeselskap (DNO), along with the other licensees.
The study of a joint solution is based on the needs of four field developments and is the first time such a solution has been studied for the Norwegian continental shelf. Kårstø is the recommended tie-in point for the power grid on land.
The Utsira High area could be well suited for electrification due to the large power need, favorable distances, and water depths, Statoil added. Preliminary estimates place the power need for the fields at around 250-300 MW.
The study consists of technical studies, concept development as well as assessments of commercial solutions for electrification of Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Johan Sverdrup, and Dagny.
The intention is to establish a joint framework for power supply from land as a basis for concept selection and investment decisions.
A key element in the continuing study is to mature and optimize a concept for a joint distribution platform for Utsira High. The plan calls for concept selection in 4Q 2013, with an investment decision in 2014.
The various fields included have different startup times during 2015-18. Installation of a distribution platform in 2017 and startup of power deliveries in 2018 will increase the chances of securing a comprehensive electrification solution from the start, Statoil said.
Johan Sverdrup, with the largest need for power, is scheduled to start up in 2018. The work on this project is in an early planning phase, and the final power need figures have not been defined. The base case, however, is to draw power from a joint distribution platform.
Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, and Dagny all have designs that lend themselves to electrification from the start-up of the distribution platform, the operator added.
As regards the Dagny platform, concept selections have been made in which the license is pre-investing in equipment to facilitate power from land, and only one gas-operated turbine will be installed for power generation. This turbine will only be used until power from land becomes available, continued Statoil in a press statement.
After power from land is implemented, the gas turbine on Dagny will be part of the backup solution which is necessary to ensure power supply when parts of the power from land facility are undergoing maintenance, or in the event of an unplanned shutdown.
The Edvard Grieg platform also has made a concept selection in which the license pre-invests in equipment to enable power supply from land. Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen have two turbines installed on Edvard Grieg, which will generate power from the startup of production. Ivar Aasen gets electrical power from Edvard Grieg through a dedicated power line and is thus fully electrified from it comes onstream. When power from land becomes available in 2018 one turbine will be shut down on the Edvard Grieg platform.
Compared with a development with offshore power production, Statoil said the fields would save around 1 million tons of CO2 being produced per year, assuming a consumption of about 250 MW.
