Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinor has said it has, with its partners, received permission to increase gas exports from two offshore fields in Norway to supply the tight European market.
Production permits for the Oseberg and Troll fields have each been increased by 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) for the gas year starting October 1, an increase from 5 bcm to 6 bcm for Oseberg and from 36 bcm to 37 bcm for Troll.
"Already in June, Equinor took steps to evaluate and develop concepts for enhancing the production and exports to the European market. This work resulted in enhanced production permits from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for the Oseberg and Troll fields," Equinor said Monday.
"The production permits allow us to produce more gas from these two important fields this fall and through the winter. We believe that this is very timely as Europe is facing an unusually tight market for natural gas. At Equinor we are working on measures to increase exports from our fields on the NCS,” says Helge Haugane, senior vice president Gas & Power.
Equinor said that after 25 years of significant gas exports from the Troll field, around 50% of the gas is left in the ground.
To further develop the Troll-area, Equinor has recently completed the Troll Phase 3 project.
Recoverable volumes from Troll phase 3, which will produce the Troll West gas cap are estimated at as much as 347 billion standard cubic meters of gas. Total recoverable gas volume remaining in Troll is estimated to be 715 billion standard cubic meters.
"Now we are ramping up production at Troll following the completion of the Phase 3 project, and we expect to reach plateau production from 1 October. We take pride in being a long-term, reliable supplier of energy and we are happy that we have been able to identify ways to export as much as practically possible into this tight market,” says Helge Haugane.
Troll phase 3 will extend the life of Troll A and the Kollsnes processing plant beyond 2050, and the plateau production period by 5-7 years.