Norwegian firm Statoil and its partners have commenced drilling of the first production well as part of the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development in the North Sea.
The drilling of the first of 35 production wells is being carried out using Deepsea Atlantic rig through a predrilling template, which was installed in 2015.
Prior to moving the Odfjell Drilling-owned rig to drill injection wells on three locations on the field, a total of eight wells are planned to be drilled through the template.
Johan Sverdrup project senior vice-president Kjetel Digre said: "The Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig is currently predrilling the first production well for the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development.
"Predrilling allows the production capacity on the field to be utilized as efficiently as possible when Johan Sverdrup has come on stream late in 2019."
The partners are planning to install the permanent Johan Sverdrup drilling platform, which is under construction at Aibel’s yard in Haugesund, north of Stavanger and in Thailand, as the second of four platforms in 2018.
Upon installation of the platform, the eight predrilled wells will be hooked up from the predrilling template and Deepsea Atlantic will commence drilling the wells providing reservoir pressure support to maintain high field production.
Digre added: "Deepsea Atlantic is a good rig and everything is set for a safe and cost-effective drilling operation on Johan Sverdrup. This is vital to ensure production start from the field at the end of 2019."
The Johan Sverdrup field, which comprises two discoveries including Avaldsnes and Aldous, is expected to produce up to 380,000 barrels of oil each day during first phase.
Production will be ramped up to 650,000 barrels of oil a day capacity upon fully commissioned.
Expected to meet more than half of Norway’s oil production by 2040, the field is planned to commence production in late-2019. It is expected to have an operational life of nearly 50 years.
Statoil operates the field with a 40.0267% interest while the remaining partners include Lundin Norway with 22.6% stake, Petoro 17.36%, Det norske 11.5733% and Maersk Oil 8.44%.
Image: Staff onboard the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig. Photo: courtesy of Arne Reidar Mortensen/Statoil.