NPD Receives PDO for Hild Discovery

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has received the plan for development and operation (PDO) for the oil and gas discovery 30/7-6 Hild in the North Sea. Total is the operator for the development.

Total recoverable reserves in the discovery are estimated at 29 million cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalents. In total, NOK 25 billion will be invested in Hild.

The licensees want to develop the discovery with an integrated wellhead, living quarters and production facility with a lifetime of 30 years. The facility will be able to be remotely controlled from land (Stavanger via cable from Kollsnes), and the facility is scheduled to receive power from land.

Power from land will reduce CO2 emissions by approx. 200 000 – 250 000 tonnes annually, and by approx. 2 million tonnes during the lifetime of the field.

The plan involves transporting the oil by pipeline to a contracted storage vessel, where the oil will be processed before being loaded onto shuttle tankers. The ship, which is planned to receive power from the production facility, can store up to 620 000 barrels of oil.

The recovery strategy is to produce gas and condensate from Hild Øst and oil from Hild Olje first, without pressure support. Then, the oil reserves from the Frigg formation (Hild Sentral and Hild Vest) will be phased in and developed using gas lift.

Hild is scheduled to start production in 2016.

The licensees are Total (51 per cent), Petoro (30 per cent) and Statoil (19 per cent).

Plans for development and operation (PDO) and plans for installation and operation (PIO) consist of a development or installation section and an impact assessment section. PDOs/PIOs must be submitted to the MPE and the Ministry of Labour (ML) with a copy to the NPD and Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA).

For PIOs for gas transport and processing, or PDOs including processing of gas transport in pipelines, Gassco must also receive a copy. The MPE coordinates the processing of the plan. The ML, the NPD and, if relevant, Gassco submit their assessments to the MPE, while the PSA submits its assessment to ML.

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Offshore Nieuws Staff, January 27, 2012; Image: NPD