Njord Future Gets Investment Nod
Monday 20 March 2017
Statoil and its partners have formally sanctioned the Njord Future redevelopment scheme in the Norwegian Sea, as well as tie-in of the Bauge satellite field that is being developed in tandem with the project, according to a partner.
The final investment decision comes on the heels of the award of a major contract for upgrade of the field’s Njord A platform to local contractor Kvaerner on Friday, with Aker Solutions picking up associated design engineering work.
Plans for development and operation for both Njord Future and Bauge are due to be submitted shortly to the authorities, French partner Engie E&P, which has respective 20% and 10% stakes in the projects, said in a statement.
Bauge, located in Statoil-operated production licence 348, is set to be developed as a subsea tieback to the overhauled Njord A facility.
Its manager of non-operated ventures Carl Otto Houge characterised the formal sanction as “an important milestone” to “secure valuable production and reserves for the company”.
The Njord A platform was towed to the Kvaerner Stord yard last August and was moved to the drydock in December, where it will remain until this autumn for extension and reinforcement of the hull.
Further reinforcements and upgrades will be subsequently carried out on the unit while it is docked quayside, with delivery to Statoil scheduled for 2020.
The Njord B floating storage and offloading vessel is also being upgraded in Kristiansund, Norway.
The upgrade work is part of a major redevelopment of the Njord field by Statoil under the so-called Njord Future redevelopment project to boost recovery and extend the lifetime of the Norwegian Sea field to 2030.
The remaining partner in the Statoil-operated Njord field are Dea, Faroe Petroleum and VNG.