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Problems arise for Martin Linge, who is already several years behind and subject to billions in excess.
Equinor will now drill new wells in the field in the North Sea after conducting an in-depth study of the wells that were drilled in the field before the company took over Total’s operation in 2018.
“This review concludes that several of the wells do not have the necessary barriers and, therefore, Equinor plans to drill new wells in order to start safe production,” Equinor wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Cost of a billion
These are four gas wells that were previously drilled before 2018, which have demonstrated deficiencies in the well barriers and are therefore not considered suitable for safe production. According to Equinor, the well is safe as it is now, but will remain plugged and monitored until the pressure in the formation has been reduced by production from other wells.
– All security systems are based on the fact that we have two independent barriers and that is what we have had a review. There are many elements, it can be training, cement, etc., but both internal and external experience have spent a lot of time mapping what it looks like and we have come to the conclusion that we do not have the necessary barriers and therefore we decided to make sure. for a safe start, says Acting Executive Vice President Geir Tungesvik for Technology, Projects and Drilling at Equinor.
Equinor now plans to drill up to three new gas wells in addition to the two remaining wells in the development and operation (PDO) plan so that the field can produce as originally planned.
The total cost of drilling up to three new wells is about two billion crowns, according to Equinor.
Billions of cost overruns from before
This is not the first time trouble has arisen for Martin Linge’s field. When Equinor bought Total in 2018, the project was already behind schedule. The field was originally due to go into production in 2016, but the previous year, Total announced that commissioning had been postponed until 2018.
It is especially the construction of the platform of the platform in South Korea that has become more expensive and more difficult than planned. It also didn’t help progress when Total’s project was hit by a fatal accident at the Samsung shipyard in South Korea in 2017.
Now the start-up has been postponed until 2021 and the cost overruns have become huge.
When the state budget was presented in October last year, the excess was NOK 25.7 billion, which corresponds to an 85 percent cost overrun.
Martin Linge had a cost of NOK 30.4 billion in 2019 when it was adopted under Total in 2012.
It has not ruled on the requirements.
– We have informed Total about the challenges we have, but we have not commented on what we will do in the future, says Tungesvik.
It confirms that the wells were drilled by Total.
– Could it be relevant to charge them costs?
– We have not commented on the matter. As I said, we have informed you about it.
– Two billion are sober?
– Two billion is the estimate for up to three wells, so I think we have to keep in mind that the corona still exists and if it had an eruption on a drilling rig or rig, it would change the picture somewhat. But this is the estimate we have now, says the acting executive vice president.
Press manager Gaël Baudet at Total says the following in a comment to DN:
“Total recently learned of Equinor’s opinion that some of the wells drilled at Martin Linge do not have the necessary barriers. This information is new to us and we are reviewing the case. We have no further information at this time.”
Drilling started last week and is being carried out by Maersk Intrepdid.
Owner with Petoro
Equinor is the largest owner and operator of Martin Linge with 70 percent. The state-owned Petoro is the only partner with a 30 percent stake. Petoro has also conducted an independent assessment of well barriers supporting Equinor’s opinion.
– It is no secret that Martin Linge as a project has not had the development that one could wish for. What we assumed when we started the project did not turn out to be true, Acting CEO Kjetil Morisbak in Petoro tells DN.
Petoro has been the operator of the Martin Linge field since inception, but has been satisfied with the development of the project since Equinor joined the property.
– Equinor has mapped the status of the entire project, including the latest review, and we are very satisfied with that. Although this is bad news, we are pleased to have discovered it.
Although Equinor wants to drill up to three new gas wells, not all necessarily need to start the field, according to Tungesvik at Equinor.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
