More oil than ten years ago
27/05/2015 The current recoverable volume of oil in fields and discoveries exceeds the estimated figure in 2005, and it is also presumed that more oil remains to be discovered.
This is the result of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s (NPD’s) review of the resource basis in a select number of fields and discoveries on the Norwegian shelf between 2005 and 2014.
“A lot of good work has been done to increase the resources on the Norwegian shelf, and there has been substantial resource growth in many fields,” says Kirsti Veggeland, Assistant Director General for shelf analysis in the NPD.
“The most important reasons for this are more wells, extended field lifetimes and improved knowledge. Decisions were also made to develop new deposits in the fields over the ten-year period.”
The background for the review is the NPD’s ambitious goals from 2005, to achieve an oil reserve growth of 800 million Sm3 or five billion barrels over ten years. Now that the figures are in, the reserve growth turned out to be somewhat less, but the goal would have been reached with flying colours if the development plan for Johan Sverdrup had been submitted before the end of 2014.
In addition to producing fields, the NPD has reviewed 62 discoveries for which development decisions had not been made in 2005. Over the course of this ten-year period, 28 of them have been developed, and their oil reserves have nearly doubled. This is due to new information, better reservoir understanding and optimisation of development solutions and drainage strategies.
Discoveries made after 2004 have also led to development decisions for 13 new fields, which have contributed an overall resource growth totalling 80 million standard cubic metres (Sm3) of oil. The Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen and Knarr fields account for more than 75 per cent of this volume.
“The NPD had hoped that improved recovery measures would account for a greater share of the growth in oil reserves. However, many new opportunities to improve recovery have been identified, and the potential is greater in 2015 than it was ten years ago,” says Veggeland.
Kirsti Veggeland,
Photo: Emile Ashley
Updated: 27/05/2015