Germany’s Wintershall increased the recoverable resources for its Norwegian Sea Maria field by 40MMboe.
The Maria field. From Wintershall. |
The field is now expected to reach 180MMboe recoverable resources, due to lab tests, studies and model calculations. Previous estimates were 130MMbbl of oil and 10MMboe of associated gas.
Maria is about 200km from Trondheim on the Halten Terrace, approximately 20km east of the Kristin field and 45km south of the Heidrun field in Blocks 6407/1 and 6406/3. Production is slated to begin in 2018.
According to Wintershall, the new technical production profile is made up of about 150MMbbl, 10MMboe of gas, and 20MMboe of natural gas liquids. Under the selected development solution, the Maria reservoir will be linked via a subsea tieback to the Kristin, Heidrun and Åsgard B production platforms using two templates located on the ocean floor.
The joint venture will submit the plan for development and operation to Norwegian authorities in 1H 2015.
“The prospect of being able to produce more hydrocarbons than expected in the Maria field is not only good news for Wintershall and our partners but also for the Norwegian oil industry and society,” says Hugo Dijkgraaf, Maria project director.
Wintershall is the operator of Maria with at 50% interest. Partners in the field include Petoro (30%) and Centrica Resources Norge (20%).
In October, Wintershall awarded FMC Technologies a US$280 million contract to supply the subsea production system for Maria. FMC will deliver a comprehensive SPS System for the Maria development that includes engineering, procurement and construction. The Maria SPS consists of two integrated template manifolds with their respective trees and auxiliary equipment, and the dynamic and the static umbilical, the production riser base and the subsea umbilical termination unit and the subsea control system.
Read more: