The partners plan to lay a 28km long power cable from the Sleipner field centre to the Gina Krog platform, which in turn, will be connected to the Johan Sverdrup field centre
The Sleipner field centre in the North Sea. (Credit: Øyvind Gravås and Bo B. Randulff / Equinor ASA)
Equinor and its partners have agreed to move ahead with the partial electrification of the Sleipner field centre in the Norwegian North Sea with an investment of nearly NOK850m ($92m).
The Norwegian oil and gas company alongside its partners Vår Energi, LOTOS, and KUFPEC will be submitting a revised plan for development and operation as well of the Sleipner field centre to the authorities.
The partners plan to lay a 28km long power cable from the Sleipner field centre to the Gina Krog platform. In turn, Gina Krog will be connected to the Johan Sverdrup field centre through a 62km long high voltage cable.
According to Equinor, during periods when the power requirement is greater than the capacity in the area solution, the Sleipner fields will use gas turbines that they are being used currently for covering their power consumption needs.
The Sleipner fields include the Sleipner Øst, Gungne, and Sleipner Vest gas and condensate fields.
Aibel wins EPCIC contract for electrification of the Sleipner field centre
Equinor said that Aibel has been given the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contracts for the electrification of the Sleipner fields and also for the Gina Krog platform, totaling about NOK560m ($60m).
An investment decision for the electrification of Gina Krog has also been made, said the Norwegian firm. The investment for the Gina Krog power from shore solution will be NOK640m ($69.27m).
Equinor said that the partners are planning to connect Sleipner and Gina Krog to the power from shore area solution to the Utsira High by the end of 2022.
In October 2019, Equinor and its license partners in the Utsira High area agreed that the Sleipner field centre, the Gudrun platform, and other tie-ins, will be supplied with power from shore to meet parts of their power demand. The Norwegian oil and gas company at that time said that the solution will also ensure that the Edvard Grieg platform, operated by Lundin Norway, will be completely electrified via power from shore.
Equinor technology, projects and drilling executive vice president Anders Opedal said: “Today, we are pleased to submit development plans for Sleipner electrification that will provide both ripple effects and major new emission cuts on the Norwegian continental shelf. This investment will contribute to further develop the NCS toward the goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2050.”
As per Equinor, emissions savings from all the fields that will be connected to the area solution on the Utsira High area are estimated at about 1.15 million tonnes of CO₂ on average per year. Sleipner’s share of this reduction is anticipated to be in excess of 150,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually.