Heimdal ( no, Heimdalfeltet) is an offshore

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 ...

in the

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

located northwest of the Stavanger, Norway. Heimdal serves as a connection hub for processing and distribution of natural gas from satellite fields. The field was discovered in 1972. The depth of the sea at location is . The field was developed with an integrated drilling, production and accommodation facility with a

steel jacket Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...

including a riser facility in 1999. The gas from the field is transported to

Kårstø Kårstø is an industrial facility located near the village of Susort, along the Boknafjorden, in the municipality of Tysvær in Rogaland county, Norway. The site features a number of natural gas processing plants that refine natural gas and con ...

as well as to St. Fergus in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. After construction of the Heimdal gas center, a new gas pipeline was connected to the existing one from

Frigg gas field Frigg gas field is a natural gas field on Norwegian block 25/1 in the North Sea, on the boundary between the United Kingdom and Norway. The field is named after the goddess Frigg. King Olav V of Norway officially opened production on 8 May 1978. P ...

to St. Fergus. The gas is also transported to Grane oil field for gas injection. The condensate is sent by pipeline to

Brae oilfield The Brae field is a Scottish oil field. The name comes from a Scots language word for hillside. The field was discovered in 1974 by well 16/7-1 drilled by a semi-submersible rig Odin Drill for operator Pan Ocean. The Fields are operated by T ...

. Heimdal also gets gas from the Oseberg field center for further transportation through Statpipe system.

Ownership

The Heimdal field is operated by

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 ...

. Partners are Equinor (39.44%), Centrica Resources (23.79%),

Petoro Petoro is a company that is wholly owned by the Government of Norway. Established in 2001, it manages the Government's portfolio—collectively called State's Direct Financial Interest (SDFI)—of exploration and production licenses for ...

(20%), and TotalFinaElf Exploration Norge AS (16.75%). Originally the operator was

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world a ...

, but after transfer of Hydroäs oil assets to Equinor, Equinor took over operatorship. In summer of 2008, Marathon Oil sold its stake to Centrica for $416 million. Total investment has been 19 billion Norwegian krone.

Reservoir

The Heimdal reservoir consists of sandstones from Heimdal Formation. The depth is approximately . Recoverable reserves stand at 44.6 billion cubic meter.

Production

The overall rate of processed gas at Heimdal Gas Center constitutes about 15–20% of Norway's total gas export. Three smaller satellite fields Vale, Byggve and Skirne are also connected to Heimdal field via wells on the sea floor. Heimdal was discovered in 1972 and started production in 1986. As of January 2019, the field had produced 46 billion standard cubic meters of gas and 7 million standard cubic meters of oil. Veslefrikk came on stream in 1989 and produced over 400 million BOE.

Decommissioning

Phased work to remove Heimdal and Veslefrikk A from the Norwegian North Sea shelf is planned to be completed sometime in 2025. Equinor has chosen Heerema Marine Contractors for removal, dismantling, and recycling of the topsides and jackets of the Heimdal riser platform, Heimdal main platform, and Veslefrikk A platform. The three contracts have been awarded on behalf of Gassco as operator of the Heimdal riser platform and on behalf of the partners of the Heimdal and Veslefrikk licenses. The Veslefrikk partners plan to shut down the field permanently in the spring of 2022. Well plugging at the field started earlier this year. A decommissioning plan has been submitted to the authorities. The exact time for shutdown and start of removal will be decided by the Heimdal partners this summer.

References

External links