On Friday last week, Aker BP announced that production has started from the Gråsel field in the Norwegian Sea. It is a good example of the development of an oil accumulation that would not have been economic as a standalone project, but it adds value within the overall Skarv development.
“Start-up for Ærfugl and Gråsel will take Skarv back to a plateau production of over 170,000 bbls per day. It also extends the Skarv field lifetime by five years,” according to Sverre Isak Bjørn, Vice President Operations & Asset Development in the Skarv area.
In fact, Gråsel is not even near-field, it is a supra-field, as the Cretaceous Lange Fm reservoir overlies the Skarv field that produces from Lower and Middle Jurassic sandstones in the Tilje, Ile and Garn formations. The map above shows the outline of Gråsel superimposed on Skarv (lighter green colour for display purposes).
With reserves of an estimated 13 MMboe, the volume in Gråsel is not spectacular, especially when compared to the initial recoverable reserves in Skarv of almost 700 MMboe. However, when combined with nearby developments such as Ærfugl a little further to the west, which hosted around 300 MMboe recoverable in Upper Cretaceous Lysing sandstones before full production start in 2020, it adds incremental volumes to the overall Skarv area development.
The Gråsel development consists of a new producer drilled from an existing well slot on the Skarv field, with pressure support from a shared injector for Gråsel and Tilje.
Gråsel coming online is not the endgame for AkerBP in the greater Skarv area; in the press release mention is being made that the company is maturing several development projects with the objective of making investment decisions by the end of 2022. The Shrek, Idun Nord, Alve Nord (not on map) and Ørn discoveries are all part of this so-called Skarv Satellite project. In addition, the company is also looking at drilling more exploration wells (both operated and non-operated), which again is testament to the confidence the company holds in the greater Skarv development.
HENK KOMBRINK
