Shell is planning to exit its Knarr field off Norway early in the next decade as an exploration effort has failed to turn up finds to extend the field’s lifetime, writes Steve Marshall.

The Anglo-Dutch supermajor has seen declining output of late from the North Sea field, which it acquired from former operator BG Group through its 2016 takeover of the latter.

Shell recently issued for consultation an impact assessment study on decommissioning of Knarr in which it stated “production is expected to cease in the first half of the 2020s”, although a planned infill well could be drilled that would boost output slightly.

Knarr has been tapped using leased floating production, storage and offloading vessel Petrojarl Knarr that was hired from Teekay Offshore Production for a firm period of six years in line with the expected lifetime of the field, which had an original recoverable resource estimate of 70 million barrels of oil equivalent.

It was hoped nearby discoveries could extend the field’s lifetime to up to at least 10 years, and possibly as much as 20 years, but Shell said “new prospects in the area have failed to result in commercial discoveries to date”.

Among these was the Tyttebaer prospect drilled last year to the south of Knarr that came up dry.

Under the proposed decommissioning plan, the FPSO would be disconnected for possible reuse at an alternative field by the Canadian contractor, while six wells at Knarr — three producers and three injectors — would be plugged and abandoned, and two subsea templates removed.

Infrastructure including subsea templates and manifolds to be removed weighs a total of 14,000 tonnes, while the gas-export pipeline weighs an additional 11,000 tonnes, according to Shell.

Stakeholders in production licence 373S that hosts the field are operator Shell with 45%, Wintershall Dea on 30% and Idemitsu Petroleum on 25%.

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Shell to pull plug at Knarr