Kristin Deepwater Project, Norwegian Sea, Norway

Kristin is located in the south-west part of the HaltenBank, in the Norwegian Sea. Kristin straddles Block 6406/2 (production licence 199 was awarded in 1993) and block 6506/11 (PL 134B was awarded in 2000).

EQUITY

Kristin is operated by Statoil on behalf of:

• Licensees: PL 134B - PL 199
• Statoil: 48% - 73%
• (SDFI): 25% - 45%
• Norsk Hydro: 12% - 12%
• Norsk Agip A/S: 30%
• Mobil A/S: 15%
• Total Norge AS: 10%

Kristin was discovered in 1997 and lies about 20km south-west of Åsgard's Smørbukk field. It is possible that Kristin could form the centre of other nearby discoveries, such as Ragnfrid, Lavrans and Erlend.

GAS RESERVES

Kristin has reserves of 35.4bn scm gas, 8.5 million tonnes of NGL and 40.4 million scm of condensate. The reservoir lies almost 5,000m beneath the seabed. The pressure and temperature in this reservoir - at 900bar and 170°C respectively - are higher than in any field so far developed off the Norweigen shore. Kristin will be developed through 12 subsea production wells.

DEVELOPMENT

The preferred development scheme consists of using a floating production facility with a daily production capacity of 125,000 barrels of condensate and 13 million m³ of gas. In this scenario, the rich gas can be piped through Åsgard Transport to a land terminal (Kollsnes/Kårstø) for the separation of the NGL. The condensate fraction could then be piped to the Åsgard C storage ship and, from there, loaded into shuttle tankers, together with Åsgard condensate.

The overall bill for developing Kristin is put at around NOK12-14 billion. The first contracts should be awarded at the end of 2002, with production then starting in the autumn of 2005 at the earliest.

Statoil has used the Transocean Arctic to drill 5km west of Kristin, to prove gas and condensate in the northern part of the Erlend structure. A minor gas find was previously made in the southern part of the structure.

Statoil also drilled in the M-prospect, 12km north of the Kristin using the Scarabeo 5 rig. Targeted at a separate structure in the 134 B licence, it aimed to check whether gas and condensate were present.

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