Denmark's Tyra natural gas field remains on track to restart production by the end of March, BlueNord, a partner in the TotalEnergies-operated development, said on Tuesday.
Denmark's largest gas field, which was temporarily shut for redevelopment in 2019, is expected to produce 2.8 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year, TotalEnergies said, more than the country consumed in 2023.
Denmark currently depends on imports of gas but restarting Tyra would again make the country self-sufficient and a net exporter of natural gas.
The field will undergo a four-month ramp-up phase and is expected to reach plateau production level in mid-2024, Norway's BlueNord said.
BlueNord in a statement said it planned to make its first dividend payment in the third quarter of 2024, subject to the successful restart of Tyra, and that from 2024 to 2026, it would pay out 50%-70% of operational cash flow.
TotalEnergies operates Tyra on behalf of the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC), where the French group holds a 43.2% stake. BlueNord holds 36.8%, while Denmark's state-owned Nordsofonden owns the remaining 20%.
Tyra's operations were halted after the seabed had sunk several metres under its platforms after more than 30 years of production.
As part of its redevelopment project, called Tyra II, its old installations were replaced with new ones, and the legs of its platforms were extended.
Prior to the shutdown, Tyra served as a processing and export hub for more than 90% of gas produced from the Danish sector of the North Sea.
(Reuters - Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Terje Solsvik, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Sonia Cheema)