Statoil and its partners submitted the plan for development and operation (PDO) of the North Sea Oseberg Vestflanken 2 to the authorities on 18 December 2015. The development will provide in excess of 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Statoil and its licence partners have decided to develop the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 covering the Alpha, Gamma and Kappa oil and gas structures. They are located around eight kilometres northwest of the Oseberg field centre.

The Oseberg Vestflanken development will consist of an unmanned wellhead platform with 10 well slots. The wells will be remote-controlled from the Oseberg field centre. Two existing subsea wells will also be reused.

“Oseberg Vestflanken 2 meets the current cost challenges and higher efficiency requirements with an innovative concept based on simplification. This is a pioneering project on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) that the industry can learn from,” says Ivar Aasheim, senior vice president for field development on the NCS.

Wellhead platforms with no facilities, helicopter deck or lifeboats represent a new solution in Norway, but it has been thoroughly tested in other areas, such as the Danish and Dutch continental shelves.

“We emphasise that this new concept will continue the high security level we have on our installations on the NCS,” says Aasheim.

Statoil has focused on cutting investment costs throughout the project planning phase, and has now reduced total investment costs by around NOK 1 billion following the concept selection earlier this year. Maturing of the resource base, leading to higher volumes, has also helped realise the project.

Tags: Statoil