Dvalin North Gas Field

Dvalin North Gas Field lies in the Norwegian Sea, around 200km off the coast of Northern Norway. It was the largest discovery in Norway in 2021.

Wintershall Dea is the operator of the field with 55% interest. Petoro (35%) and Sval Energi (10%) are the other partners in the project.

Dvalin North is Wintershall Dea’s fifth operated subsea field in Norway.

In December 2022, the partners submitted a plan for development and operation (PDO) to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for the Dvalin North gas field.

Around NOK8bn (€780m) will be invested to develop the asset. The gas field is expected to commence operations in late 2026.

Location details

The Dvalin North Gas Field is located in production licence (PL 211) in the Norwegian Sea. The site is around 200km off the coast of Northern Norway west of Sandnessjøen. Water depth in the region is around 420m.

It is situated 12km north of the Dvalin Field and 65km north of the Maria Field. Dvalin and Maria fields are operated by Wintershall Dea.

Discovery and Reserves

Wintershall Dea announced the discovery at the Dvalin North prospect in the Haltenbanken area of the Norwegian Sea in May 2021.

The wildcat well 6507/4-2 S encountered a gas column totalling 85m in the Middle Jurassic reservoir rocks (Garn Formation) featuring approximately 60m of moderate to poor reservoir quality sandstone.

The well also identified a 33m of gas/condensate column in the upper part of the Lysing Formation and four petroleum-bearing sandstone intervals in the Lange Formation in the Cretaceous area as secondary exploration targets.

Deepsea Aberdeen rig was deployed to drill the well.

In 2021, Dvalin North was estimated to contain between 33-70 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe). The two secondary targets hosted a combined resource estimate of 38-87 million boe.

The field is estimated to contain 84 million boe in 2022.

Project details

The Dvalin North Gas Field development will involve using existing infrastructure to reduce carbon intensity in future production. It will include a subsea tie-back to the Heidrun platform through the Dvalin field.

Three production wells will be drilled from a single sub-sea template that is located 10km to the north of the Dvalin Field.

The production will be exported through Polarled Pipeline to Nyhamna near Kristiansund in mid Norway. This will increase gas deliveries to Europe.

Contractors involved

In December 2022, Aker Solutions successfully secured a contract worth between NOK500m and NOK1.5bn from Wintershall Dea to provide the subsea production system for the Dvalin North Gas Field.

Under the terms of the contract, Aker Solutions will deliver a sub-sea production system including three horizontal sub-sea trees, control systems, a four-slot steel sub-sea template with an integrated manifold system, three wellhead systems, associated tie-ins, and installation work. The scope of the contract also includes 10km of static subsea umbilical.

Aker Solutions are expected to make the final deliveries in the end of 2025.

In January 2023, TechnipFMC secured an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract from Wintershall Dea Norge regarding Dvalin North project.

The subcontract, valued between $75m and $250m, includes the design, engineering, manufacture, and installation of pipe. This pipe will connect Dvalin North with the Heidrun Platform via the existing Dvalin field.

In 2020, Wintershall Dea Norge contracted Odfjell Drilling for the Deepsea Aberdeen to drill exploration wells at Dvalin North. Transocean Arctic rig was used to drill production wells at the field.