Eldfisk North is an offshore oil field project in the North Sea, Norway, planned to be developed with an estimated total investment of £980m ($1.2bn).

ConocoPhillips Skandinavia, a subsidiary of US-based oil and gas company ConocoPhillips, is the operator of the project with a stake of 35.11% and its partners in the field include TotalEnergies EP Norge (39.89%), Vår Energi (12.38%), Equinor AS (7.6%) and Petoro AS (5%).

The Eldfisk partners have submitted a plan for development and operation (PDO) for the project to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy in May 2022.

The offshore project will exploit additional reserves in the Eldfisk field that was discovered in 1970 and entered into production in 1979.

The Eldfisk field is one of four producing fields in the Greater Ekofisk Area. In April 2022, the Norwegian authorities granted an extension to the Greater Ekofisk Area production licences, consisting of 018, 018 B and 275, for additional 20 years from 2028 to 2048.

The Eldfisk North development project is expected to commence production in 2024, targeting an estimated resource potential of 50-90 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Location and field details

The Eldfisk North project is part of the Eldfisk field that is located in block 2/7 in the southern part of the Norwegian North Sea, approximately 16km south of the Ekofisk field in the Greater Ekofisk Area.

The field lies in the production license (PL) 018 and the water depth in the area is around 70m.

Located at a depth of 2,700m to 2,900m below the seabed, the Eldfisk reservoir consists of fractured chalk that includes primarily oil resources.

Eldfisk North development details

The Eldfisk North project is subsea satellite field development tied back to the Eldfisk Complex in the North Sea. The project will comprise new greenfield facilities installed approximately 7km north of the complex.

The development will include a three-by-six slot subsea production system (SPS) connecting 14 wells, out of which nine will be production wells and the remaining five will be water injectors.

The field is expected to have a peak production capacity of 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), with an estimated greenhouse gas emissions intensity of seven kilogram (kg) CO2 per barrel oil equivalent.

Eldfisk complex details

The Eldfisk complex consists of four offshore platforms connected through bridges for the production from the Eldfisk field. The platforms include 2/7 A, 2/7 FTP, 2/7 E, and 2/7 S. Eldfisk 2/7 B, a fifth platform, is located about 6km northwest of the complex.

Eldfisk A, Eldfisk B, and Eldfisk FTP were installed as part of the initial development of the field. Eldfisk B is a combined drilling, wellhead and process platform, while FTP consisted of wellhead and process facilities. In 1999, Eldfisk E was installed as a water injection facility.

Eldfisk S is a new integrated facility that was installed as part of the Eldfisk II development project. The platform is connected to Eldfisk E through a bridge.

Details of Eldfisk II project

The Eldfisk II development project was launched in June 2011 to increase production from the Eldfisk field.

The project included the installation of the new platform Eldfisk S with 40 wells and a process plant. The platform replaced some of the functions of the existing platforms Eldfisk A and Eldfisk FTP.

Production from the Eldfisk II project commenced in January 2015 and resulted in the conversion of Eldfisk A into a wellhead platform and Eldfisk FTP as a bridge-support facility.

Contractors involved

Aker Solutions was contracted by ConocoPhillips to deliver a complete subsea production system for the Eldfisk North development project in March 2021.

The contract scope comprises the supply of 13 standardised vertical subsea trees, three six-slot templates with integrated manifolds, wellheads, control systems, and related services. The company is expected to make final deliveries in 2024.