The Oseberg Field Centre recently started low-pressure production, thereby increasing oil production from the Oseberg field in the North Sea.

"We have carried out extensive modifications to the process facility on the Oseberg Field Centre and removed a bottleneck for increased oil production," says Torstein Hole, area manager for Operations West in Statoil.

The modifications enable the recovery of an additional 20 million barrels of oil from Oseberg. This corresponds to a value of nearly NOK 10 billion at the current oil prices.

Total investments in Oseberg low-pressure production were NOK 1 billion. The project was completed NOK 200 million below budget.

Solution to a challenge Low-pressure production from Oseberg is the solution to a challenge which is common in mature fields on the Norwegian continental shelf.

The pressure has been reduced in the Oseberg reservoirs, after 20 years of oil production and nine years of gas exports.

In order to maintain a high level of oil production, it became necessary to rebuild the process facility to reduce the platform back pressure.

Oseberg Field The Oseberg Field Centre includes three platforms, Oseberg A, B and D, connected to one another with bridges, in the southern part of the Oseberg field, and the Oseberg C platform, which lies 14 kilometres north of the field centre.

Oseberg A is a concrete base platform with process equipment and living quarters, while Oseberg B sits atop a steel jacket and has drilling, production and injection equipment.

Oseberg D is a steel platform with gas processing and export equipment. It was connected to the Field Centre with a bridge in 1999.

Oseberg C is an integrated drilling, accommodation and production platform with a steel jacket.

Gas export started from the Oseberg Field Centre on October 1, 2000. This represented the beginning of a new era for the Oseberg field and for Hydro as an offshore operator.

Tags: Statoil