Frigg gas field is a

natural gas field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

on Norwegian block 25/1 in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, on the boundary between the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The field is named after the goddess

Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...

. King

Olav V of Norway Olav V (; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was the King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was the only child of King Haakon VII of Norway and Maud of Wales. He became heir apparent to the Nor ...

officially opened production on 8 May 1978. Production was closed on 26 October 2004. The field is situated northwest of

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

. Operator for the field was the French oil company

Elf Aquitaine Elf Aquitaine is a French brand of oils and other motor products (such as brake fluids) for automobiles and trucks. Elf is a former petroleum company which merged with TotalFina to form "TotalFinaElf". The new company changed its name to Total in ...

, which merged and changed name to

Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

Operations were regulated according to an agreement between the UK and Norwegian governments called the Frigg Treaty. Infrastructural changes were made in three phases: * Phase I - 1977 * Phase II - 1978 * Phase III - 1981

Geology

The field was discovered at a depth of by the Petronord group (Elf Aquitaine, Total Oil Marine Norsk, and Norsk Hydro) and the Norwegian State in 1971 with Well 25/1-1 using the

Semi-submersible Semi-submersible may refer to a self-propelled vessel, such as: *Heavy-lift ship, which partially submerge to allow their cargo (another ship) to float into place for transport *Narco-submarine, some of which remained partially on the surface *Se ...

Neptune P 81 in of water.Heritier et al, 1980, p. 60 The well was located following interpretation of a 15 by 20 km grid of

Reflection seismology Reflection seismology (or seismic reflection) is a method of exploration geophysics that uses the principles of seismology to estimate the properties of the Earth's subsurface from reflected seismic waves. The method requires a controlled seismi ...

lines recorded in 1965. A 5 by 5 km finer grid of seismic lines were recorded in 1969, followed by a 1 by 1 km grid in 1973, combined with four appraisal wells determined the field was in area with a gas column in

Lower Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian ...

sandstones Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) b ...

forming an

abyssal fan Abyssal fans, also known as deep-sea fans, underwater deltas, and submarine fans, are underwater geological structures associated with large-scale sediment deposition and formed by turbidity currents. They can be thought of as an underwater ve ...

in the Viking

Structural basin A structural basin is a large-scale structural formation of rock strata formed by tectonic warping of previously flat-lying strata. They are geological depressions, the inverse of domes. Elongated structural basins are also known as synclines. ...

. The fan structure appears on seismic sections as a low relief

Anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...

that includes a

Flat spot A flat spot, or wheel flat, also called spalling or shelling, is a fault in railroad wheel shape. A flat spot occurs when a rail vehicle's wheelset is dragged along the rail after the wheel/axle has stopped rotating. Flat spots are usually cau ...

caused by the

Density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

contrast of the gas.

Development

The Frigg field has been developed through a number of offshore platforms. The initial production of gas (in 1000 standard cubic metres) was:

Pipelines

Pipelines associated with the Frigg field are as follows:

Pipelines connected to the Frigg field

Frigg UK System The Frigg UK System is a natural gas transportation system from the North Sea gas fields to St. Fergus near Peterhead in Scotland. It transports natural gas from the Alwyn North, Dunbar, Ellon, Grant, Nuggets, Frigg, Bruce, Ross, Captain, Buzzar ...

- natural gas transportation system from the Alwyn North Field in the

via the Frigg field to St. Fergus near

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The Frigg UK System is operated by Total E&P UK Plc. *

Vesterled Vesterled is a natural gas pipeline system, which runs from the Heimdal field ( Heimdal Riser platform) in the North Sea to St Fergus Gas Plant near Peterhead in Scotland. The name ''Vesterled'' is the term used by the Vikings for their westward ...

- mostly the former Frigg Norwegian Pipeline

Images

File:Remember Frigg.jpg, Bridge from the Frigg field outside the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Stavanger

Future plans

The Frigg field may be revitalised. A production licence on the Norwegian side of Frigg was allocated to

Equinor Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. I ...

in 2016. An appraisal well was drilled on Frigg in 2019. Equinor also holds the licence rights on the UK side of the field.

References

Bibliography

External links

Frigg Industrial Heritage
- a website by the

Norwegian Petroleum Museum The Norwegian Petroleum Museum (''Norsk Oljemuseum'') is located in Stavanger, Norway. Overview It was designed by the architectural firm of Lunde & Løvseth Arkitekter A/S and was opened on 20 May 1999. Seen from the sea the museum looks like a ...

, English version
Frigg decommissioning
- at the website of Total E&P Norge
Frigg UK: 30 Years on

Frigg in Interactive Energy Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frigg Gas Field Natural gas fields in Norway North Sea energy TotalEnergies