Equinor Cancels Shore Power Plan for Wisting Oilfield, Eyes Gas Turbine Solution
Equinor's Decision on Wisting Oilfield Power Solutions
Background and Project Overview
OSLO, June 25 (Reuters) - Norway's biggest oil company Equinor and its partners have dropped plans to electrify the Wisting oilfield from shore due to high costs and technical complexity, it said on Thursday.
Wisting Oilfield Significance
• Wisting is the largest undeveloped discovery on the Norwegian continental shelf, with estimated resources of nearly 500 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Assessment of Power Options
• "Power from shore has been thoroughly assessed but was ruled out due to technical complexity and high costs," Trond Bokn, Equinor's senior vice president for project development, said.
Gas Turbine Solution
• "We are now continuing our work on power generation based on an energy-efficient gas turbine solution," he said in a statement.
Project Timeline and Partners
Investment Decision and Production Outlook
• A final investment decision is planned for the end of 2027.
• If sanctioned, Wisting could produce for around 30 years.
Project Stakeholders
• Equinor (42.5%) operates the licence alongside Aker BP (27.5%), state-owned Petoro (20%) and INPEX Idemitsu (10%).
Environmental and Development Considerations
Environmental Impact Assessment
• Equinor and its partners on Thursday submitted for public consultation a proposed programme for the environmental impact assessment of a development of the field.
Development Concept and Emission Reduction
• Partners have selected a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessel as the development concept.
• They will assess the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to reduce CO2 emissions from production, Equinor said.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Anna Ringstrom)
