ORLEN Increases Gas Production in Norway by 500 Million Cubic Meters

"Ormen Lange is the second-largest gas field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and a key asset in ORLEN Group’s upstream portfolio. The third phase of its development will increase our annual production from the field to 1.5 billion cubic meters, strengthening ORLEN’s position in Norway. The project reflects our commitment to responsible upstream operations. It was carefully planned and executed to capitalize on opportunities to avoid carbon emissions while optimizing the recovery of non-renewable natural resources. Thanks to excellent cooperation with partners and subcontractors, we completed the project on time and within budget," said Ireneusz Fąfara, President of the Management Board of ORLEN.

Ormen Lange was discovered in 1997 with resource estimated at 330 billion cubic meters of gas. The field is located in the Norwegian Sea, approx. 120 km from the shore. It lies at a water depth of 850–1,000 meters, with the reservoir approximately 3,000 meters below the seabed. ORLEN Upstream Norway holds a 14% stake, alongside Petoro (36.5%), Equinor Energy (25.4%), Norske Shell (17.8%, operator), and Vår Energi (6.3%).

The third phase of Ormen Lange’s development involved installing four subsea gas compressor to compensate for the pressure drop in the deposit resulting in a gradual reduction in production. Unlike typical setups where compressors are placed on platforms, the partners chose seabed installation, improving efficiency, lowering costs, and eliminating safety risks associated with platform operations.

"Ormen Lange is among the most technically advanced upstream projects globally. Connecting subsea compressors to the onshore grid ensures, that they operate almost entirely on renewable energy. The equipment is controlled from the Nyhamna gas terminal, 120 kilometers away from the field. Ensuring efficient control of the compressors over such a long distance was a major challenge. Previously, similar solutions had only been applied over much shorter distances on the Continental Shelf,” said Wiesław Prugar, ORLEN Management Board Member for Upstream.

The Ormen Lange compressors are powerful enough to boost the peak daily output from the field by up to 50 per cent increasing ORLEN Upstream Norway's share of production by approx. half a billion cubic meters per year. The total amount of gas that Ormen Lange's shareholders will be able to produce from the field over its entire lifetime will also increase by 30-50 billion cubic meters. of which 4-7 billion cubic meters for ORLEN. Thus, the recovery rate of Ormen Lange will increase from 75 to 85 percent, placing it among the most efficiently developed gas fields in the world.

Before the compressors were installed on the seabed, the project team carried out a series of tests to confirm the effectiveness of the control systems, starting with computer simulations and followed by trials on a full-scale model the size of a football field. The control software was tested and refined during the trials.

ORLEN Upstream Norway is a shareholder of 20 producing fields and seven under development. In 2024, the company produced 40.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 4.6 billion cubic meters of gas that is transported to Poland via the Baltic Pipe pipeline.

In line with ORLEN's strategy, by 2030 the Group's own gas production is expected to increase by approximately 50% to 12 billion cubic meters per year, of which 6 billion cubic meters will come from Norway. The planned increase in production is consistent with forecasts for Polish gas demand, which is expected to increase to 27 billion cubic meters by early 2030s. The growing demand will be caused primarily by the launch of new gas-fired power units as part of energy transition of the Polish power sector.