The Norwegian subsidiary of German energy company Wintershall closer to getting reserves out of its Nova field. Image courtesy of Wintershall
Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A quarter of a billion dollars in development contracts puts the Nova field in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea closer to production, Wintershall said.
The Norwegian subsidiary of the German energy company said it awarded services companies Aker Solutions and Subsea 7 with contracts that combine for a value of $230 million. The contracts call for the production of subsea infrastructure and pipelines associated with the Nova field, formerly known as Skarfjell, which will be tied into the nearby Gjøa platform in the North Sea.
"These contracts allow us to push towards the execution phase of the project, and build on our strategy of cost effectively developing fields that utilize local infrastructure," Andre Hesse, the head of the project for the Wintershall subsidiary, said in a statement.
Wintershall one year ago led a consortium of license partners in submitting development plans for the Nova field in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea. Discovered in 2012, the field is expected to yield between 60 million and 140 million barrels of oil equivalents.
Most of the hydrocarbons there are slated for exports. Norway is one of the world's leading oil and gas producers and sends nearly all of its production from offshore to the European market, making it the region's top supplier after Russia.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, reported a preliminary rate for January production of 1.6 million barrels per day on average, an increase of 5 percent, or 77,000 barrels per day, from December. Total gas production of 12.9 billion cubic feet per day was an increase of 2.2 percent from the previous month.
Wintershall said final plans for development and operation of the Nova field will be submitted to Norwegian regulators before the second half of 2018.
