Production from the Gullfaks South (GSO) fast-track project for improved oil recovery in the North Sea started on 27 July. GSO will increase the output from the Gullfaks area by around 65 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The Gullfaks A platform in the North Sea. (Photo: Øyvind Hagen)
«GSO demonstrates how we can increase recovery and profitability by use of standardized, simplified development solutions tied to existing infrastructure,” says Arild Dybvig, vice president for fast-track projects in Development & Production Norway. Production started three years after the project was approved. NOK 9 billion have been invested in the project.
«Helping utilize spare processing capacity, the project extends the Gullfaks A platform life beyond 2030,» says Marit Berling, vice president for Gullfaks operations.
GSO represents our focus on improved recovery, standardization and industrialization – in line with Statoil’s continuous effort of maximizing value creation on the Norwegian continental shelf.
This project is part of Statoil’s fast-track portfolio, but it has a larger and more complex subsea scope than ordinary developments of this kind. «Close to 800 vessel days and 2.3 million working hours have been completed with good HSE results. GSO is our most comprehensive fast-track project,» says Trond Bokn, vice president for subsea projects in Technology, Projects & Drilling. The project also involved 370 drilling rig days. The drilling program will continue through the first quarter of 2016.
GSO covers two subsea templates, four production wells, two gas injectors, a gas injection pipeline and a total of three production tubings, in addition to umbilicals and power cables for pipeline heating. There are a total of 22 subsea tie-ins.
