The Halten East Project is a multi-field development near the Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea. The area comprises six gas and condensate discoveries and three prospects with option containing around 16 million standard cubic metres of oil equivalent or 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Equinor Energy is the operator with 57.70% interest in the project. Other partners are Petoro (5.90%), Vår Energi (24.60%), and Spirit Energy (11.80%).
In May 2022, Equinor and the partners submitted the Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for the project to the Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy. It will utilise existing infrastructure on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) to produce gas and condensate.
The partners will invest around NOK9bn (around $940m) to develop the offshore project, which is expected to commence production in 2025.
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Contracts worth NOK7bn will be awarded for Halten East development. These contracts are subject to government approval of the PDO.
Halten East Location Details
The Halten East Development is located in the Norwegian Sea, offshore Norway. It consists of Harepus, Nona, Sigrid, Natalia, Gamma, and Flyndretind discoveries across four licences.
The development will be tied back to the Åsgard facilities, which are situated around 200km offshore mid-Norway, and 50km south of the Heidrun field.
Halten East Development Details
As the individual development of the small-size discoveries and prospects were not economically viable, the Halten East partners decided to develop the area as a single project in 2020.
The project will include five subsea templates that will be tied back to the existing Åsgard facilities. This will include two subsea templates in the north and three subsea templates installed in the south.
The PDO plans to drill up to ten wells.
Halten East will be developed in two phases, the first of which will involve drilling of six wells to five of the discoveries from 2024-2025. The second phase, which will include the last discovery and three prospects, will commence in 2029.
The southern templates will be connected to a pipeline 49km long that will stretch from Mikkel South to Åsgard Subsea Compressor Manifold Station (SCMS).
The northern structure will be tied-in to a 22km long pipeline running from Natalia to SCMS.
The gas, oil and condensates produced by the development will undergo processing at Åsgard B.
The oil and condensate products will be stored in Åsgard C and exported via tankers, while the gas will be transferred through Åsgard Transport Gas Pipeline to Kårstø and eventually to Europe.
Europe is expected to receive 60% of the gas exported via Kårstø.
The project will commence production in 2025 when the first two wells begin operations. The remaining wells will become on stream when completed.
According to Bodø Science Park, the project’s development phase will provide more than 3,000 person-years of employment per year over five years from 2022 to 2029.
The supplier residents of Norway will receive more than 90% of the investment in the project.
Contractors Involved
In March 2022, Aker Solutions was selected by Equinor to deliver subsea production system for the Halten East development.
The contract includes the delivery of seven standardised vertical subsea trees, a metering station, control systems, five dual-slot satellite structures with manifolds, well-head, and tie-ins.
Separately, a letter of intent (LoI) was signed by Aker Solutions for the delivery of 90km of static subsea umbilicals.
In August 2022, Wood, a global consulting and engineering company, won the contract to deliver detailed design of subsea pipelines for the project.
Equinor awarded TechnipFMC an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract that involves manufacturing and installation of flowlines and installation of umbilicals and subsea structures.
For TechnipFMC, the contract is worth between $75m and $250m.
In June 2022, Equinor awarded Transocean Spitsbergen semi-submersible rig a contract on behalf of the Halten East licence. The rig is expected to drill six production wells planned for the project.