The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) of the Snorre Expansion Project was submitted to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy on Thursday, 21 December, at an event in Stavanger. The project will entail an expansion of the Snorre field to include a seabed solution.
The development solution consists of six seabed templates with a total of 24 well slots. The templates will be positioned directly above pinpointed locations with the highest potential for remaining resources. A total of 11 production wells and 11 injection wells are planned.
Snorre can be characterised as one of the new giant projects on the Norwegian Shelf. Ten years ago, the situation was totally different. Back then, the biggest concern was that it might not be possible to extract the considerable resources remaining in the field. Petoro has been a driving force in identifying solutions that can secure these resources.
Snorre is located in the Tampen area, in the northern part of the North Sea. The field was discovered in 1979 by Saga Petroleum, and production commenced in 1992. The field is situated east of the Statfjord field, and the reservoir is located under 350 metres of water. The field comprises blocks 34/4 and 34/7.
Snorre A is a floating tension leg platform (TLP) for accommodation, drilling and processing, located in the southern part of the field. Production started in 1992. Snorre A also has a dedicated process module for full stabilisation of the Vigdis wellstream. A subsea production and injection template, Snorre UPA, occupies a central position on the field, and is tied in to Snorre A. The semi-submersible Snorre B platform is an integrated drilling, process and living quarters installation in the northern part of the field. The Snorre B Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) was approved in 1998 and production started in 2001.
In addition to Petoro with 30%, the partnership for the project includes the operator Statoil (33.28%) and ExxonMobil (17.45%), Idemitsu (9.6%), DEA (8.57%) and Point (1.1%).
