Maria May Start Early: Wintershall

Wintershall said May 2 that first oil from its Maria oil and gas field offshore Norway may flow in 1H2018, rather than later that year as first planned.

“The Maria project has so far had very good progress; if this continues, a start-up in the first half of 2018 could be possible. With the drilling of the reservoir, we will be passing another critical milestone that moves us a step closer to first oil,” said Wintershall CEO Mario Mehren.

The development is estimated to cost some kroner 15.3bn ($1.8bn) . Maria's recoverable reserves are around 195mn barrels of oil equivalent, according to NPD data, of which 93% are oil/NGLs but only 7% gas. BASF-owned Wintershall is Maria’s operator with 50%; Norwegian state holding Petoro has a 30% interest in the field while Centrica has 20%. 

Mehren spoke ahead of his visit to the Deepsea Stavanger rig in the Norwegian Sea May 2, accompanied by Norway’s petroleum minister Terje Soviknes. The rig began drilling six production wells in March 2017 on Maria, in the Haltenbanken area offshore Norway, and drilling is expected to last 580 days: the top holes are complete, with drilling towards the reservoir section now underway.

Deepsea Stavanger drillrig (Photo credit: Wintershall)

Maria oil will go to the Kristin platform for processing while supply of water for injection into the reservoir will come from the Heidrun platform and lift gas will be provided from Asgard B via the Tyrihans subsea template. Processed oil will be shipped to the Asgard field for storage and offloading to shuttle tankers. Gas will be exported via the Åsgard Transport System to Karsto. Maria is located between the Asgard and Tyrihans gasfields.

Mark Smedley