Shell Opts for Subsea Compression on Ormen Lange Phase 3

Norske Shell, the Norwegian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell, announced it has decided to go with subsea compression as a concept for the Ormen Lange Phase 3 to increase the recovery rate from the reservoir.

"This is an important choice, where we have evaluated a number of alternative concepts. Subsea compression will result in a significant increase in what is possible to produce from Norway's second largest gas field, by reducing the pressure near the wellheads," said Rich Denny, CEO of Norske Shell in a press release from the service provider for the exploration and production of oil and gas.

"We have managed to reduce costs by more than 50 per cent compared to the first time we considered offshore compression for Ormen Lange. This demonstrates that it was a right decision to stop the project in 2014 and look at all opportunities again," he added.

Arne Dahle, project manager at Shell said, "We have worked closely with suppliers and partners with a focus on optimizing work volume, costs, safety, environment, and using learning from similar projects. This has resulted in a number of competitive alternatives, such as unmanned platform solutions and several subsea concepts."

The partnership will now choose between two remaining options for subsea compression; one for wet gas developed by OneSubsea and built on technology installed on Gullfaks, and a wet gas-tolerant system from TechnipFMC, which is based on experiences from the Åsgard field. Both of these options will need power from land.

The choice of underwater concept is expected later in 2019, followed by investment decision in the Ormen Lange license with Shell (operator), Petoro, Equinor, ExxonMobil and INEOS.