Norway’s Equinor is planning to develop the Eirin gas field as a subsea facility tied to the Gina Krog platform in the North Sea for a total investment cost of NOK 4 billion (US$0.37 billion).

The company has submitted a plan for development and operation to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and plans for a production start as early as 2025.

Eirin was proven in 1978 as part of the Gina Krog development but was put on hold until now. The gas field will now be developed as a subsea facility and tieback to Gina Krog through a production flowline and umbilical. 

Equinor Plans Eirin Field Development, Operations
(Source: Equinor)

Gina Krog, also put on hold a number of times, came onstream in 2017 and is tied into offshore North Sea platform Sleipner A, using its processing capacity and pipelines to bring gas to market.

“The development will extend Gina Krog’s productive life from 2029 to 2036, and will be vital for the Sleipner area,” said Camilla Salthe, Equinor’s senior vice president for field life extension, in a Sept. 15 press release.

Volumes from Eirin will be first sent to Gina Krog before going elsewhere for further processing. Condensate from the Eirin gas will be exported to Sleipner A via a planned oil pipeline from Gina Krog to Sleipner A. Rich gas will be transported by pipeline to the Sleipner A facility for further processing. Sales gas will be exported from the Sleipner A facility via Gassled to market, while unstabilized condensate will be exported to the terminal at Kårstø.

With the electrification of Gina Krog and partial electrification of Sleipner, production from Eirin will have low emissions at 3 kilo of CO2/boe.

The license partners are Equinor (78.2%) and KUFPEC Norway (21.8%).

Offshore