Exchange of licence shares in Gudrun and Sleipner areas
Ståle Tungesvik, senior vice president for reserve and business development in Exploration & Production Norway.
Statoil and Marathon Petroleum Norge signed an agreement on 17 June relating to the exchange of licence share on the Gudrun/Sigrun discoveries, the Brynhild prospect and find 15/5-2 in the North Sea.
The agreement is a pure exchange between Statoil and Marathon Petroleum Norge in which Statoil receives 8.2% of Gudrun/Sigrun (PL 025) and Marathon Petroleum Norge receives 10% of the Brynhild prospect (PL 187) and 12.5% of the 15/5-2 find (PL 048) west of Sleipner.
The swap entails that the partners on Gudrun/Sigrun and Brynhild are left with equal shares in the different fields. This will facilitate the development of the area as a whole and promote the optimal development of the Gudrun area.
This exchange will give Statoil a 55% share on Gudrun/Sigrun and Brynhild with continuing operatorship; GDF SUEZ will obtain 25% and Marathon Petroleum Norge 20%.
”Gudrun is an important project for Statoil, and both parties to the agreement see obvious advantages in balancing license share,” explains Ståle Tungesvik,” senior vice president for reserve and business development in Exploration & Production Norway (EPN).
The plan for development and operation (PDO) of Gudrun was sent to the authorities on 23 February and was approved on 16 June.
The plan is to develop the platform in the form of a fixed process platform and tie it back to the existing facilities in the Sleipner area and the Kårstø process plant in the north of Rogaland county.
”Our joint efforts and expertise make us even better equipped to bring Gudrun on stream quickly. The platform and transport solution form a sound basis for the development of several oil and gas fields in this area,” says Tungesvik.
The PDO decision for the Sigrun find in the same license is planned for the second half of 2010. Development will take the form of a seabed installation tied back to the future platform on the Gudrun field.
Drilling operations are now taking place on the Brynhild prospect close to Gudrun and these are planned to provide results in the third quarter. Positive finds will mean that Brynhild will come on stream via the Gudrun/Sigrun installations.
Following the exchange of licenses between Statoil and Marathon the 15/5-2 find will be taken out of the existing production license 048 and emerge as a separate licence. The partnership will be Statoil (65.7%), Marathon (12.5%) and Total (21.8%).
There are several development options over the Sleipner value chain and the concept is expected to be decided upon next year.
The agreement relating to the license share exchange and division of the 15/5-2 discovery has to be approved by the authorities and partners concerning the 15/5-2 division.
Source: Statoil
