Norway's Equinor, partners submit development plan for Halten East gas project

Norway's state-controlled Equinor and its partners in the Halten East gas project have submitted the relevant development plan, which will see first production from the cluster of discoveries in 2025.

In a statement May 25, Equinor said it would invest together with Var Energi, Spirit Energy and Petoro some NOK9 billion ($935 million) in the project, located near the Asgard field in the Norwegian Sea.

Norway is looking to new developments to help maintain gas output at current levels, particularly in light of Europe's move to phase out Russian gas imports.

The new development also comes as European gas prices remain at sustained highs, with the TTF month-ahead price assessed by S&P Global Commodity Insights on May 24 at Eur84.50/MWh, some 245% higher year on year.

Halten East consists of six gas and condensate discoveries and options on another three prospects, and will be tied back to existing infrastructure at the Asgard field.

Finding economically viable development alternatives for each individual project was difficult so in 2020 the licensees in the four licenses agreed to develop the area as a unit.

"Halten East utilizes the existing gas infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) and will add important volumes," said Geir Tungesvik, Equinor's executive vice president for projects, drilling and procurement.

Recoverable reserves in Halten East are estimated at some 100 million barrels of oil equivalent, 60% of which is gas that would be piped via the Karsto gas processing plant to Europe.

Gas contribution

Norway's energy minister Terje Aasland applauded the development, saying it supported the government's ambition to further develop its oil and gas industry.

"Halten East is a good example of how different companies can work together to develop several smaller discoveries that would have been challenging to develop individually," Aasland said in a ministry statement.

"The gas will be shipped to Europe -- this is an important contribution to the energy supply."

Halten East will be executed in two phases, Equinor said. In the first phase, six wells will be drilled in 2024-25, with production from the first two wells to start in 2025 and the others coming online as they are completed.

Phase two is planned to be developed in 2029, Equinor said.

The six discoveries under the Halten East project are Gamma, Harepus/Mikkel South, Flyndretind, Nona, Sigrid and Natalia, while the three additional prospects are Flyndretind Ile, Tussen and Rita.

Equinor is operator of the project with a 57.7% stake, while Var Energi holds 24.6%, Spirit 11.8% and Petoro 5.9%.