ORLEN starts up Andvare Field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
ORLEN Upstream Norway has launched production from the Andvare field, increasing the number of producing assets in its portfolio to twenty-one. Andvare is expected to supply ORLEN with approximately 300 million cubic metres of natural gas.
Andvare is located in the Norwegian Sea, around 300 km southwest of Bodø, close to the Norne field which is operated by Equinor. The license partners made use of existing infrastructure to reduce both the time and cost of the Andvare development.
“Companies operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf are increasingly targeting smaller resources placed around those operated. Thanks to a well-developed infrastructure, the cost of starting production can be significantly reduced, ensuring an attractive return on investment. Andvare is a prime example – its development required no additional installations, with project costs limited to drilling a production well from an existing template. As a result, we expect to recover the incurred investments in just four months,” said Wiesław Prugar, Member of the ORLEN Management Board, Upstream.
The backbone of Norne’s production facility is the Norne Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit tied into 53 production wells. Oil delivered to the vessel is stored onboard while gas is transported to the terminal in Kårstø from where ORLEN’s share is delivered to Poland via the Baltic Pipe.
The Norne FPSO currently supports production from several fields—including Alve and Marulk, in which ORLEN also holds a stake. In the coming month, the Verdande discovery—also involving ORLEN—is scheduled to be tied back to Norne to commence production.
Andvare is operated by Equinor Energy (53 per cent of shares in the field), with DNO Norge (32%) and ORLEN Upstream Norway (15%) holding the remaining interests.
