Subsea separation

A letter of intent has been signed by

with

for the delivery of a subsea separation station to improve oil recovery on the Tordis field in the

. The contract will be worth approximately NOK 625 million when options are exercised.

Tordis is tied back to Statoil’s Gullfaks C platform, and the improved oil recovery (IOR) project is expected to boost its recovery from 49 to 55 per cent. This increase corresponds to about 35 million barrels of oil in addition to associated gas.

Tordis IOR comprises two phases. The first embraces necessary platform modifications on Gullfaks C to convert to low-pressure production. Planned to come on stream in October 2006, this stage will improve recovery by about 16 million barrels.

Phase two embraces the separation station and pumps with support systems for the platform. This is due to recover some 19 million barrels of additional oil from October 2007. Total investment in the development is put at NOK 1.5 billion.

“The project represents the first adoption of a full-scale subsea separation facility," commented project manager Hans Kristiansen. “Tordis IOR also represents a significant contribution to developing and improving technology which will have a range of applications. These include development of fields in deep or environmentally-sensitive waters, tie-in of fields located a long way from fixed installations, and tail production.”