The project involved the development of the two discoveries Kobra East and Gekko in licence 203, which have been developed as a subsea tieback of around 8km to the Alvheim FPSO located in the Norwegian part of the central North Sea near the British border
The Kobra East & Gekko project produces through a tieback to the Alvheim FPSO. (Credit: Aker BP)
Aker BP and its partner ConocoPhillips Skandinavia have commenced production from the Kobra East & Gekko (KEG) project located in the Alvheim area of the Norwegian North Sea.
The plan for development and operation (PDO) for the project was submitted by Aker BP to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in June 2021. At that time, the project was targeted to begin production in Q1 2024.
As per the PDO, the Kobra East & Gekko project entailed investments of around NOK8bn ($714.5m).
Aker BP, which is the operator, said that the project has been executed under the original budget.
The project involved the development of the two discoveries Kobra East and Gekko in licence 203 in which Aker BP has an 80% stake, while ConocoPhillips Skandinavia holds the remaining 20% stake. Put together, the discoveries are estimated to hold around 40 million barrels of oil equivalents (mmboe).
The discoveries have been developed as a subsea tieback of around 8km to the Alvheim floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) at the Alvheim field in the Norwegian part of the central North Sea near the British border. Aker BP is the operator of the Alvheim field with ConocoPhillips Skandinavia as its partner.
Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said: “The KEG project execution is a fantastic example of what we can achieve with the alliance model, working as one team with our suppliers towards a common goal and with shared incentives.
“The successful start-up of production from KEG also represents a new chapter in Alvheim’s proud history of being among the most cost-efficient oil and gas producers on the Norwegian shelf with a resource base that has multiplied since start-up.”
Subsea 7 executed the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of the pipelines, spools, protection cover, and tie-ins pertaining to the Kobra East & Gekko project.
Aker Solutions was responsible for providing the subsea production system, which included four horizontal subsea trees, control systems, three manifolds, and three static subsea umbilicals.
Alvheim director Ine Dolve said: “The KEG project adds important volumes to the existing production capacity at Alvheim FPSO and will enable extended lifetime up to 2040. The ongoing Tyrving project, which is estimated to come on stream in 2025, will add further production to the FPSO.”