Wintershall Dea said the drilling of four production wells has begun on the Dvalin gas field in the Norwegian Sea ahead of first production planned in 2020.
Drilling from the Transocean Arctic rig is expected to last approximately one year and follows a summer of activity around the Wintershall Dea operated Dvalin development.
Since April there has been high activity at the Dvalin field with installation of pipelines and the manifold at 400 meters water depth. In August, a 3,500-metric-ton processing module was completed and lifted on to the nearby Heidrun platform in preparation for receiving gas from the Dvalin field. The field is located 259 kilometers north of Kristiansund in mid Norway.
“A summer of activity topped off with the start of drilling on the key Dvalin project is a potent sign of the belief we have in Norway, and the resources we are prepared to invest to reach our ambitions. The Dvalin team has worked tirelessly from day one to deliver a smooth, timely, and most of all safe project to date,” said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Dea Chief Technology Officer.
Operator Wintershall Dea has a 55% stake in the filed, while partners Petoro and Edison hold 35% and 10% respectively.
Estimated reserves are approximately 113.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Dvalin is being developed with four subsea wells, tied back to the Equinor operated Heidrun host platform. The four wells will be drilled to a depth of around 4,500 meters.
A four-slot template has been installed on the seabed. Flow-lines and umbilical are due to be connected to the Heidrun platform. On the Heidrun platform, two modules, one 400-metric-ton utility module and one 3,500-metric-ton gas processing and compression module, have been installed.
Gas from Dvalin will be transported to Heidrun via a 15-kilometer pipeline. From there, it will be sent to the Polarled gas transportation system via a 7.5-kilometer pipeline, before it will be further processed to dry gas at the Nyhamna onshore gas terminal. Finally, the gas will be transported via Gassled to the market.
“Dvalin fits neatly into our strategy of supplying gas to the European market through fields and pipelines while ensuring we remain one of the most important gas producers on the Norwegian continental shelf. It further demonstrates our capabilities as an efficient and capable operator,” said Alv Solheim, Managing Director of Wintershall Dea in Norway.