Wintershall launches Nova offshore Norway

Wintershall said on August 1 that it had achieved first oil and gas at its Nova offshore project in the Norwegian share of the North Sea.

Nova will send crude oil via a pipeline to the Mongstad terminal in Norway, while the associated gas will be shipped to the St Fergus gas processing terminal in the UK. The field is tied back to the platform at Neptune Energy's Gjoae field, where Wintershall holds a 28% equity stake.

Nova is expected to extend Gjoae's operating lifespan and profitability. It is also expected to have a positive effect on emissions given that Neptune-operated Gjoae is "sustainably electrified", with renewable power delivered to the platform from shore. While receiving hydrocarbons from Nova's reservoirs, Gjoae's platform will send gas lift and water injection in the other direction to boost Nova's extraction rate, though Wintershall declined to specify how much oil and gas will be produced.

Nova is situated 120km off the coast of Bergen, Norway. It contains an estimated 90mn barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable reserves, most of which is oil. Wintershall said this was enough to "cover Berlin's oil demand for more than five years," at a time when "Europe needs every barrel it can get." 

The German upstream company holds a 45% operated stake in Nova, participating alongside Norwegian company Sval Energi (45%) and Pandion Energy (10%). Another Norwegian investor, Okea, has agreed in principle to acquire 7% of Wintershall Dea's equity, though the transaction is yet to be completed.

This is the third subsea production field operated by Wintershall to launch off Norwegian shores. Wintershall says it has a further three tieback projects under development. These include its operated stake in Dvalin gas field, situated in the Haltenbanken area close to Wintershall's existing gas field Maria. Dvalin is slated to launch later this year as a tieback to Equinor's Heidrun pipeline, providing dry gas spec to European markets via the Nyhamna onshore gas terminal.

"As a subsea operator, we are committed to making the most of the infrastructure Norway has spent decades developing, as well as maintaining a low-carbon intensity portfolio while producing the energy that Europe needs," said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall's CTO.