The Kristin South Phase 1 project in the Norwegian Sea, Norway involves the subsea development of the Lavrans and the Kristin Q discoveries and their tieback to an existing production platform.
Equinor is the operator and holds a 54.82% stake in the Haltenbanken Vest Unit, while the other partners are Petoro (22.52%), Vår Energi (16.66%), and TotalEnergies EP Norge (6%). The Lavrans discovery, the Kristin Q-discovery, and the Kristin field are part of the Haltenbanken Vest Unit.
The partners sanctioned the development of the Lavrans and the Kristin Q discoveries in June 2021. The total investment on the subsea project is estimated to be approximately £548m ($760m).
The plan for development and operation (PDO) of the Kristin South project was submitted to the Norwegian authorities in June 2021. The project is expected to produce approximately 58.2 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Project Gallery
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The Kristin South Phase I project involves the subsea tie-backs of the Lavrans and Kristin Q fields to the Kristin platform. Image courtesy of Equinor.
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The Lavrans comprise four wells connected to a subsea template. Image courtesy of Marit Hommedal/ Equinor.
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The Kristin South Phase I project is expected to produce approximately 58.2 million barrels of oil equivalent. Image courtesy of Equinor.
Vår Energi, owned by Eni and HitecVision, picked up a 10.87% stake in the Haltenbanken Vest Unit through the acquisition of ExxonMobil’s upstream assets in Norway in December 2019.
Location
The Haltenbanken Vest Unit straddles across production licenses 134 D, 199, and 257 in the Norwegian Sea, Norway.
The Haltenbanken Vest Unit partners agreed to extend the area to include the Lavrans, Erlend, and the Ragnfrid discoveries.
Discovered in 1995, the Lavrans field is located approximately 10km southeast of the Kristin field. The Lavrans reservoir comprises gas and condensate in the Early to Middle Jurassic Ile and Tofte Formations. The Kristin Q field, situated in the southern part of the Kristin field, comprises high-pressure and high-temperature reservoirs.
Kristin South Phase 1 project development
The Lavrans field development will comprise the drilling of as many as four wells and the installation of a subsea template. The Kristin Q development will involve a single well and is expected to reuse an existing subsea template.
The well stream from Lavrans and Kristin Q will flow through a shared pipeline to the Kristin platform.
A total of three wells, including two Lavrans wells and one Kristin Q well, are expected to start production in 2024, while the remaining two wells at Lavrans are anticipated to come on-stream in 2025.
Kristin field infrastructure
The Kristin gas and condensate field that commenced production in November 2005 is a part of the Haltenbanken Vest Unit. The field comprises 12 production wells spread across four subsea templates connected to the Kristin semi-submersible production platform. The field has a production capacity of over 18 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas and 125,000 barrels of condensate a day.
The Equinor-operated Tyrihans field and the Wintershall Dea-operated Maria field are also tied back to the Kristin platform. The Tyrihans and Maria fields started operations in 2009 and 2017 respectively.
The gas from the Kristin platform is exported through a pipeline to the Åsgard Transport System (ÅTS) that transports gas to the Kårstø processing plant, Norway. The condensate is transported to the Åsgard C floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) for storage and export.
The Kristin platform is currently expected to remain in operations until 2034, while the platform’s operational life may further be extended until 2042.
Contracts awarded
TechnipFMC also participated in the concept and front-end phase of the project was awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract worth approximately £84.4m ($117m) for the Kristin South project by Equinor in June 2021.
The contract scope includes the supply and installation of rigid pipelines, static and dynamic umbilicals, and the installation of the subsea production facilities. TechnipFMC’s Orkanger Spoolbase will be used to fabricate the pipelines for the project.
TechnipFMC’s dive support vessel Deep Arctic will be deployed for executing the project.
Aker Solutions bagged a contract worth approximately £84.4m ($117m) to supply the subsea production facilities for the Kristin South project from Equinor in 2021.
The contract scope for the Lavrans development will include the delivery and installation of a subsea template with four vertical subsea trees, while the contract scope for the Kristin Q development will include the installation of a manifold in the existing Kristin Q subsea template.
The subsea trees will be manufactured by the Aker Solutions facility in Curitiba, Brazil, while the subsea template will be fabricated at the Aker Solutions facility in Sandnessjøen, Norway.
Aibel was awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract for the modifications at the Kristin platform to handle production from Lavrans and Kristin Q in June 2021.
The value of the contract is estimated to be approximately £16m ($22m). The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2023. Earlier, Aibel also conducted a front-end engineering design (FEED) study on the project from April 2020 to May 2021.