Stale Tungesvik, senior vice president EPN (Exploration and Production Norway) business development for Statoil, said at the ONS 2010 conference in Stavanger Tuesday that about three quarters of new development candidates on the Norwegian Continental Shelf were classified as small finds. The company also has some 60 projects in the pipeline now, four times as many as 10 years ago.
When the company was developing "huge elephants" with big reserves, it was worth looking at specialized solutions as even a small improvement produced a big reward. But to bring on many smaller developments economically, a fast-track approach made sense, Tungesvik said.
The company aims to cut the time from discovery to production in half, he said. Simple projects, with one production template and a few wells, could be brought on stream quickly with "ready-made" rather than "tailor-made" solutions.
The company would not have to ask what concept to use on a project, simply if the existing concept would fit. Using standard equipment across projects would allow early spending on kit, which could always be used on another project instead if the initial project was delayed or did not work.
Statoil is already working on a first wave of projects. The 60 million barrels of oil equivalent Pan/Pandora project is "paving the way" for the fast-track approach. Found in 2009, it should be producing in 2012, through Gullfaks C. Around one third is oil and two thirds gas.
Another first wave project is Katla, near Oseberg. Also with 60 million boe, but with the oil/gas proportions the other way around, it could be producing also in 2012, probably through Oseberg South.
The Vigdis Northeast field is 30 million boe and could be on in 2012, tied in to the Vigdis field. Gygrid, a 27 million boe field in the Halten area, could be produced via Njord or Draugen.
A second wave of projects will follow and build on the experience from the first.
The Norne area is seen as very suitable. One candidate here is Fossekall, a 37-63 million boe find made in April 2010 that could be on production in 2013.
In the same area, Dompap, found in 2009 and around 25-50 million boe, could be on in 2013.
There is also a lot of potential in the Snorre area, Stale said, and in the Oseberg area, as well as Greater Sleipner. He specifically noted the license area 303 in the Greater Sleipner area.
The Vilje Sor find near US Marathon's Alvheim field might be produced via Alvheim. Statoil is in talks with Marathon.
"Standard solutions give a lot of cost reduction," said Stale, who added that suppliers in the equipment chain were also "very keen" on the approach.
Some of the fields would never be put on production if done the traditional way, but a standard equipment solution might be as much as 30-40% cheaper, he said.
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