OREANDA-NEWS. Statoil and its partners have decided to develop the Rutil discovery located in the Gullfaks Rimfaks valley in the North Sea. Providing close to 80 million barrels of oil equivalent, the development will extend the lifetime of the Gullfaks A platform.

Ivar Aasheim, head of field development on the NCS, submitted the PDO for the Gullfaks Rimfaks valley development to Norway’s minister of petroleum and energy Tord Lien today, 16 December.

The plan for development and operation (PDO) was submitted to the authorities today, 16 December.

“We are pleased about the investment decision we have made that will extend the period of profitable production on the Gullfaks A platform. By using existing infrastructure and standardized solutions we are able to create great value for our owners,” says Ivar Aasheim, senior vice president for field development on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS).

“Statoil is currently implementing a major improvement effort to reduce costs and increase profitability to secure longterm activity and value creation on the NCS. The Gullfaks Rimfaks valley is a good example of this work,” underlines Aasheim.

Gas and condensate will be transported in existing pipeline for processing in the gas processing facility at Karsto north of Stavanger. The processed gas is transported to markets on the European continent.

Kjetil Hove, senior vice president for the operations west cluster in Development and Production Norway (DPN).

“Production from the Gullfaks Rimfaks valley helps secure jobs and value creation from the Gullfaks field and throughout the whole value chain beyond 2030,” says Kjetil Hove, senior vice president for the operations west cluster in Development and Production Norway (DPN).

The investment costs of the Gullfaks Rimfaks valley development are estimated at 4.6 billion 2014 NOK.

The Gullfaks Rimfaks valley development will consist of a standard subsea template with two simple gas production wells, and possibilities of connecting two more wells. The well stream will be connected to the existing pipeline to the Gullfaks A platform.

The Gullfaks Rimfaks valley is one of Statoil’s fast track projects, aiming at realising resources quickly and cost-efficiently by for example using existing infrastructure while it is still available.

Production start is scheduled for the first quarter of 2017.