On 8 April production started from Equinor’s Bauge subsea field in the Norwegian Sea. Bauge is tied back to the recently upgraded Njord platform. Recoverable reserves in Bauge are estimated at 50 million barrels of oil equivalent, mainly oil.
Bauge consists of two oil producers in a subsea template, in addition to pipelines and an umbilical connecting the wells to the Njord A platform. The Bauge licensees are Equinor (operator), Wintershall Dea, Vår Energi and Neptune Energy.
Equinor’s senior vice president for project development Trond Bokn said the subsea facility was built and installed without a single HSE incident.
“This shows that the zero-harm vision is possible. Capital expenditures totalling NOK 4.6 billion (2023) meant the project was delivered within budget.”
The Norwegian content of the Bauge project is well over 90 per cent. The wells were delivered faster than planned by Transocean and Schlumberger.
The project has been run in parallel with the extensive upgrading of Njord A (Aker Solutions) and the Njord Bravo FSO (Aibel).
Senior vice president for Exploration & Production North Grete B. Haaland said the Njord upgrading enables Equinor to tie in new, valuable discoveries such as Bauge.
“By utilising existing infrastructure, we can realise profitable development of small-size discoveries in line with the company’s strategy. We are planning further exploration activity in the area.”
The Njord field came on stream in 1997. In 2016, the installations were brought ashore for extensive upgrading and in December 2022 the field came on stream again.
The field will now produce for another 20 years, and the ambition is to produce about the same volume from Njord and Hyme as the fields have produced so far, some 250 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Facts about Bauge
- Licensees: Equinor Energy AS (operator): 42.5%, Wintershall Dea Norge AS: 27.5%, Vår Energi ASA 17.5% and Neptune Energy AS 12.5%
- The water depth is 282 metres
- Bauge was discovered in 2013, and the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in June 2017
- The oil from Bauge is transported by pipeline from Njord A to the Njord Bravo FSO, and onwards by tankers to the market. The gas is transported in a 40-kilometre pipeline from Njord A to the Åsgard Transport System, and on to the Kårstø terminal.
