Statoil and its partners have shifted the scheduled decision on whether to proceed with a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) development for the Snorre field offshore Norway back six months to October 2015.

The Norwegian operator, however, has stressed that there is no change in the planned Final Investment Decision planned for Q4 2016 and the eventual production startup in Q4 2021. With Statoil’s continuing focus on getting field development costs down, it says the early phase of the project has been extended “to take full advantage of the improvement potential initiated by Statoil’s STEP (Statoil Technical Efficiency Programme) programme and the current focus on cost efficiency within the industry”.

It admitted that the profitability of a new Snorre C platform “is challenging and it is important for the owners to secure quality in design and cost estimates prior to entering into FEED studies”.

The new TLP is part of the operator’s plans to extend Snorre’s production to at least 2040. The oil field in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea has been producing since 1992, and with its complex reservoir represents one of the largest IOR (Increased Oil Recovery) opportunities on the Norwegian continental shelf. When the field’s original Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) was submitted, the estimated recovery rate was 25%. Currently 35% of the oil has so far been produced, and the estimated recovery rate from existing infrastructure is now put at 47% by 2040. The owner consortium wants to increase that recovery rate to 54%, by installing the new Snorre C TLP and importing gas to boost the field’s production.

The minimum process and drilling TLP concept was selected late last year (see DI, 11 November 2013, page 6), and would be the third floating production platform facility on the field, which already has a TLP on Snorre A and a semisub on Snorre B. Up against the TLP concept originally was a subsea alternative, with tiebacks to the existing platforms.

With the large expected number of wells to be drilled and maintained (up to 40), the dry trees TLP was always the favourite, but the renewed squeeze to reduce costs could persuade Statoil and its partners to re-examine that alternative.

The TLP, if approved and built, would sit in a water depth of 310 m (1,017 ft). Snorre’s reserves are estimated at 1.55 Bbbl of oil

The partners in Snorre are: Statoil (33.27556%), Petoro (30%), ExxonMobil E&P Norway (17.44596%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6%), RWE Dea Norge (8.57108%) and Core Energy (1.1074%).