Kristin cut short in Norway

"Unsustainable project economics" are to blame for the termination of the Kristin Gas Export Project (KGEP) in the Norwegian Sea.

Statoil and partners Petoro and GDF Suez cited increased costs and volume risk for ending the project, and the company said that the project represented less than 5% of the Polarled volumes, and the decision will not have an effect on the Polarled projects execution.

The Kristin field sits 5,000 m underground in the southwestern region of the Halten Bank and consists of 1.5 trillion cu ft of gas and 240 million barrels of condensate. The KGEP was projected to connect a pipeline from the Kristin field and the Polarled gas pipeline—a 300-mile line between the Aasta Hansteen field and the Nyhamna gas processing facility in Norway.

The field came onstream in November 2005, and was developed with 12 production wells that are tied back to a semisubmersible production platform. The reservoir produced 10MM cu m of gas per day and 125,000 barrels of condensate.

Production on the Kristin field was shut down in January 2009 due to defects in the release mechanisms of the lifeboats installed on the field’s platform, and again in December 2010 because of high temperatures on the outside of an exhaust duct discovered on one of the gas turbines.

“It is a necessary decision that has been taken by KGEP partners,” Polarled project development director for Statoil, Hakon Ivarjord said. “With the deteriorating project economics, we did not see grounds to continue the KGEP development.”