Equinor starts production from Njord oil, gas field satellite project

Equinor has started production from a new satellite at its Njord oil and gas field in the Norwegian Sea as part of delayed work to extend the life of the aging facility.

The Bauge satellite project, targeting 50 million barrels equivalent of mostly recoverable oil, came on stream April 8, Equinor said April 17, after more than a year of delays. It is one of two satellite development projects designed to feed into the recently-upgraded Njord facilities.

No production figure from the field was given but Equinor said Njord will now produce for another 20 years, with an aim to produce another 250 million barrels of oil equivalent over the lifetime of the field.

Oil produced at Njord is transported by pipeline to the Njord Bravo floating storage and offloading ship and onward by tankers to the market.

Gas output, with a capacity of some 6.5 million cu m/d, is exported through a 40-km pipeline connected to the Asgard transportation system and from there to the onshore Karsto processing terminal.

Equinor resumed production at the Njord oil and gas field at the end of 2022 after a six-year hiatus while upgrade work was carried out.

Production from the Njord field was initially intended to resume two years ago, but the upgrade proved more challenging than expected in part due to the pandemic.

The Njord platform and FSO have also been prepared to receive production from two new subsea fields, Bauge and Fenja, which hold a total 110 million barrels of recoverable resources.

Equinor is the operator of Njord with a 27.5% stake. Its partners are Germany's Wintershall Dea (50%) and Neptune Energy (22.5%).