Production well drilling has started on Statoil's major Johan Sverdrup development offshore Norway.
The first of 35 wells was spudded by Odfjell drilling's Deepsea Atlantic semisubmersible drilling rig.
The US$13.3 billion first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development is set to include four bridge linked platforms, 155km west of Stavanger in 110-120m water depth. In total, the full field development is set to produce 1.7-3 billion boe.
A total of eight wells will be drilled through the predrilling template, before the rig is relocating to drill injection wells on three locations on the field.
In 2018 the permanent Johan Sverdrup drilling platform will be installed as the second of four platforms.
“The Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig is currently predrilling the first production well for the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development. Predrilling allows the production capacity on the field to be utilized as efficiently as possible when Johan Sverdrup comes on stream late in 2019. This way, we maximize value from the field from day one,” says Kjetel Digre, senior vice president for the Johan Sverdrup project.
The drilling platform is currently being constructed at Aibel’s yard in Haugesund, north of Stavanger, and in Thailand. When the drilling platform is installed and operational, the eight predrilled wells will be hooked up from the predrilling template. At this point Deepsea Atlantic will be drilling the injection wells providing reservoir pressure support to maintain high field production.
The Johan Sverdrup project is using an integrated drilling services concept, with Baker Hughes providing the main deliveries together with Odfjell Drilling.
The contract for integrated drilling services worth NOK 1.5 billion was awarded to Baker Hughes in July 2015.
The contract for rig and drilling services on Johan Sverdrup, totalling more than NOK 4.35 billion, was awarded to Odfjell Drilling in 15 June 2015.
Contracts worth more than NOK 50 billion have been awarded by the Johan Sverdrup project. More than 70% of them have been awarded to suppliers with a Norwegian billing address.
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