Snorre

Location and Discovery

The Snorre oil and gas field is located in the Tampen area of the Norwegian North Sea, spanning blocks 34/4 and 34/7. It is approximately 200 kilometers west of Floro. The field was discovered in 1979, with block 34/4 awarded in 1979 and block 34/7 awarded in 1984.

Field Characteristics

• The Snorre field lies at a water depth between 300 and 380 meters.
• The reservoirs are at depths of 2000-2700 meters and consist of Triassic and Lower Jurassic sandstone in the Alke and Lunde Formations and the Statfjord Group. The field has complex structures with channels and flow barriers.

Development and Production

Phases of Development

The Snorre field was developed in two phases:

Phase I:

• Focused on the southern part of the field, which contains 150 million cubic meters of recoverable oil reserves.
• Production started in August 1992 from the Snorre A platform, a tension leg platform (TLP) that is moored to the seabed by 16 steel tethers and stabbed into four 5,700t concrete foundation templates.
• The phase involved 46 oil wells, including 36 drilled from the TLP and 10 at a subsea station.

Phase II:

• Concentrated on the northern flank of the field, developed with the Snorre B platform, a semi-submersible integrated drilling, processing, and accommodation facility.
• Snorre B came on stream in June 2001, sending fully processed crude through a 45km pipeline to the Statfjord B field for storage and transport.
• The northern flank is estimated to contain up to 25% of the field’s recoverable oil.

Platforms and Infrastructure

• Snorre A:

  • An integrated production, drilling, and quarters (PDQ) unit.
  • The 30,000t steel hull and 30,000t steel deck were constructed by Kvaerner Rosenberg and Aker Stord, respectively.
  • The platform is equipped with a subsea production system located at a depth of 335 meters, allowing for the production of up to 60,000 barrels per day.

• Snorre B:

  • A semi-submersible PDQ floater located about seven kilometers north of Snorre A.
  • Produces oil piped 45 kilometers to Statfjord B for storage and export. Gas is injected back into the reservoir.

Expansion Project

• The Snorre Expansion Project (SEP) was approved in 2018 and began production in December 2020.
• The project involves the installation of six new subsea templates, each with four wells, and the drilling of 24 new wells over the coming years at depths ranging between 300 and 380 meters.
• Five of the new wells were operational by December 2020.
• The project aims to add almost 200 million barrels of reserves and extend the field's lifetime to 2040.

Production and Recovery

• The field has recoverable reserves of 1.4 billion barrels of oil, six billion cubic meters of gas, and six million tonnes of natural gas liquids.
• The original daily oil production capacity was around 186,305 barrels per day, later upgraded to 245,000 barrels per day, and further increased to 360,000 barrels per day with the addition of the Vigdis crude process module.
• The recovery strategy involves pressure support from water injection, gas injection, and water alternating gas (WAG) injection. Since 2019, all gas has been reinjected to increase oil recovery.

Partners and Operators

• The Snorre field is operated by Equinor Energy (formerly Statoil) with a stake of 33.27%.
• Other partners include Petoro (30%), Vår Energi (18.55%), Idemitsu Petroleum Norge (9.6%), and Wintershall Dea Norge (8.57%).

Environmental and Future Developments

• The field is set to benefit from renewable power delivered from the Hywind Tampen floating wind farm, which started supplying electricity to the Snorre and Gullfaks platforms in 2022/2023.
• Measures to further reduce emissions and increase oil recovery are being considered, including possible third-party tie-ins.

Historical and Current Production

• The Snorre field has already produced over 1.4 billion barrels of oil since its start in 1992.
• The expansion project has extended the field's expected production life to 2040, with ongoing efforts to optimize recovery and reduce environmental impact.