Valemon field is an offshore gas and condensate field located in the Norwegian North Sea.
The field is operated by Equinor Energy with 66.775% stake. Other stakeholders in the field include Petoro (30%) and ORLEN Upstream Norway (3.225%).
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Valemon field was proven in 1985.
Equinor, which was then known as Statoil, submitted a development plan for the Valemon field in October 2010. The plan for development and operation (PDO) received approval in 2011.
The offshore field commenced operations in January 2015. At the time of opening, it was estimated that the investment in the field will total NOK22.6bn ($3bn) upon completion of all drilling activities.
In 2017, Valemon also became first platform in the company’s portfolio to be remotely operated from land. At that time, the field was produced approximately 60,000 barrels of gas and condensate every day.
Valemon Field Location
Valemon field is located in the northern part of the North Sea between the Kvitebjørn and Gullfaks South fields.
The field lies within licences PL 050 and PL 193 in blocks 34/10 and 34/11. Water depth at the site is around 135m.
The location is around 160km west of Bergen.
Discovery, Geology and Reserves
The Valemon field was discovered in 1985 by drilling the 34/10-23 well. The well was drilled using semi-submersible installation Dyvi Delta on the Gullfaks Gamma structure.
The offshore field was appraised in the 1990s.
Statoil conducted further appraisal of the asset by drilling 34/11-5S well, which confirmed the presence of gas and condensate. The 7,380m high pressure/high temperature (HPHT) well was drilled from the Kvitebjørn platform.
Valemon gas and condensate reserves are found in Lower Jurassic sandstone of the Cook Formation and Middle Jurassic sandstone of the Brent Group. The field has a highly complex structure with numerous fault blocks.
Its reservoirs lie at depths ranging from 3,900m to 4,200m, and are classified as HTHP formations.
Initially, recoverable reserves were estimated at 206 million barrels of oil equivalents that included 26 billion cubic metres of gas, five million cubic metres of condensate and one million cubic metres of natural gas liquids (NGL).
However, later assessments downgraded these volumes compared to the original PDO.
According to the 2021 plan, expected recovery stands at around 18 billion cubic metres of gas, 2.3 million cubic metres of condensate and 0.2 million cubic metres of NGL.
Valemon Field Development
The field is developed with a fixed production platform and it produces by pressure depletion.
The Valemon development plan included 11 platform production wells and two injection wells. The platform had a total of 20 well slots to enable drilling of additional wells.
A second drilling campaign to drill four wells commenced in 2021. All four became operational by mid-2023.
The Valemon platform is equipped to separate the recovered hydrocarbons into rich gas, condensate and water.
Rich gas is transported via the Kvitebjørn Gas Pipeline to the Kollsnes terminal, while condensate is transported in a pipeline tied to the Troll Oil Pipeline II and eventually to the Mongstad terminal.
Heimdal platform used to processing gas from Valemon until mid-2023. After its closing, Valemon’s gas export was permanently rerouted via Kvitebjørn to the Kollsnes terminal.
The gas, along with the rich gas from Kvitebjørn, undergoes further processing at Kollsnes, following which the dry gas is exported to the European gas markets.
Valemon field receives electricity from Kvitebjørn through a submarine cable. The remote Valemon control room is located at Sandsli in Bergen, Norway.
Valemon Platform Details
The offshore field hosts a fixed jacket platform with a gas, condensate and water separation facility.
It also includes accommodation facilities (40 cabins), although it is remotely controlled from land.
With a footprint of 45m x 45m, the jacket weighs 9,000 tonnes. The topsides have a weight of 9,750 tonnes.
Contractors Involved
Alliance Engineering conducted a concept feasibility study for a new fixed jacket platform and topsides facilities for the Valemon field, while Heerema Fabrication Group built the Valemon jacket.
Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) won the NOK2.3bn contract to build the topsides including living quarters.
Design work was performed by the Grenland Group in Sandefjord, Norway and Technip in Malaysia.
Grenland Group also built the flare stack and Hertel Marine in the Netherlands was responsible for the construction of the accommodation quarters.
Saipem installed the topside facilities, while IKM Ocean Design was in charge of pipeline design.
Technip also offered detailed engineering, procurement engineering, and follow-on engineering support for the fixed platform’s topsides.
The Energy Products Division (EPD) of Parker Hannifin won the contract to deliver for 11,500m of 24kV subsea cable and cable accessories for the Valemon Field Development.
In November 2020, Noble Drilling Norway secured a contract to drill three wells at the Valemon field using the Noble Lloyd Noble drilling rig.
