Statoil Investing in Askeladd
Tuesday 13 March 2018
Statoil and its partners have decided to invest just over NOK 5 billion in the further development of the Snøhvit field in the Barents Sea, which will provide feedstock for the LNG plant at Melkøya in Hammerfest. The development of Askeladd is part two of the multi-phased Snøhvit development.
The Askeladd development will supply 21 billion cubic metres of gas and two million cubic metres of condensate to Hammerfest LNG, and production is scheduled to come on stream towards the end of 2020.
Askeladd will be developed with three wells via two new subsea templates with space for additional wells in the future. In addition, an infrastructure will be installed to tie-in the Askeladd development to existing Snøhvit field infrastructure.
The multi-phased development of Snøhvit was covered in the plan for development and operation (PDO) of Snøhvit, which was approved by the authorities in 2002. The partnership has already begun working on the next steps in the development of Snøhvit.
The development of the Snøhvit field and the associated LNG plant at Melkøya has created major ripple effects for Hammerfest. Among other things, the local authorities have received almost NOK 2 billion in property tax in the ten years Hammerfest LNG has been in production.
Hammerfest LNG is a highly efficient LNG plant due to the re-injection of the reclaimed CO2 and the combined heat and power cycle used to supply the energy needs at Melkøya.
The Askeladd development will contribute to increased activity at the Polar Base in the project period, and Aker Solutions has been awarded the contract for the two subsea templates. Additional contracts will be awarded in the following months.