Norske Shell Decommissions the Knarr Field in the North Sea
The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has granted Norske Shell permission to carry out decommissioning work at the Knarr field in the northern North Sea. Havtil reports.
Knarr oil and gas field:
- located 50 km northeast of the Snorre field;
- discovered in 2008 by exploration well 31/3-1С, drilled by a floating drilling rig (SSDR) Bredford Dolphin;
- the field consists of 2 parts – Knarr West and Knarr Central;
- the water depth in the subsoil area is 400 m;
- depth – 3.8 thousand m;
- the field’s reserves were estimated at 55 million boe to 100 million boe.
The field development plan was approved in 2011.
The field infrastructure included:
- FPSO with a capacity of 63 thousand barrels per day, and a design life of 20 years;
- 2 underwater production complexes (SPC);
- 6 wells – production and injection.
Production at the field began in 2015.
At that time, the operator was BG, which was later absorbed by Shell. Produced oil was transferred from the FPSO to shuttle tankers for export, and natural gas was exported through the Far North Liquids and Associated Gas System (FLAGS) to St. Fergus, UK.
Production at the field was stopped in 2022. After which Equinor and its partners bought the FPSO to operate at a new field – Rosebank. Under the terms of the agreement, the decommissioning of underwater structures should be completed by 2028.
Let us recall that following the results of the licensing round of Awards in predefined areas 2023 (APA-2023), Norske Shell received one license as an operator.
