Statoil to set up new Norway operations centre
Integrated facility expected to streamline production on Norwegian continental shelf, with location yet to be decided
Statoil is to set up a new onshore integrated operations centre in Norway in part to help drive production efficiency on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The state-controlled player has yet to decide where it will set up the new centre, which is set to be operational next year and will integrate existing production centres and condition monitoring centres dotted around the country.
The first fields to get support from the new centre will be the Aasgard field in the Norwegian Sea and the Gina Krog and Gran fields in the North Sea.
Statoil said the new facility “will help increase safety, add value and reduce emissions” from its installations off Norway
“In a 10-year perspective, our ambition is that the increase in production from our operated fields could lead to a total annual value creation of around Nkr10 billion [$1.22 billion] before tax,” the company said.
Chief executive Eldar Saetre added: “The establishment of the centre contributes strongly to our ambition of being a global digital leader. It will enable us to optimise production and better predict support needs, ensuring optimally efficient and safe operations from our operated fields.”
Senior vice president for operations technology Kjetil Hove said: “The IOC establishment will build on existing condition monitoring and specialist centres.
“The integrated operations centre will take a more proactive approach by gathering inter-disciplinary resources that may utilise extended data integration, visualisation, analysis and new technology, supporting our installations on the NCS to an even greater extent than now.
“We are now developing tools that will stream data live from the sensors offshore. The tools will help conduct detailed analyses of the production and the performance of equipment on the installations. One important goal for the centre is to identify and prevent operational disruptions.”
Although it is being set up to aid installations off Norway, Statoil said the centre could in the future help its international offshore operations.
Another integrated operations centre will be operational in Austin, Texas in December this year. This centre will interact with the field-based centres in the core shale patches of the Bakken and the Eagle Ford.
