StatoilHydro said that its prior experience from the Kristin field is essential to develop the Morvin field in the Norwegian Sea. The firm said that the pressure in the reservoir is more than 800 bar, and the temperature of the oil that is produced is as high as 150 degrees centigrade. The conditions in the neighboring Kristin field are reportedly similar.
The firm said that pressure will be controlled by sophisticated technology on the seabed, before the oil is piped to the Asgard B platform. Although the platform is primarily designed for gas production, it reportedly has sufficient fluid handling capacity to receive oil from the Morvin field. Tying in the field to the Asgard A production vessel has also been considered by the firm.
If the plan for the development and operation (PDO) for Morvin is approved, subsea templates and production pipeline may be installed in summer 2008. If everything goes as planned Morvin will likely come on stream in the summer of 2010.
Knut Gjertsen, project manager for the Morvin field, said: The extreme pressure and temperature in the Morvin field represents a technological challenge and I am very pleased that we have come up with a good solution.
