Equinor and Aker BP have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at developing tight oil and gas reservoirs on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
The joint effort will focus on technology development, standardisation, and cooperation across multiple projects to make the recovery of resources from such reservoirs more commercially viable.
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Tight reservoirs, where oil and gas flow slowly through the rock, are estimated to hold about 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe), according to the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. This figure is comparable to the estimated recoverable resources in the Johan Sverdrup field, one of Norway’s major oil developments.
Around 90 discoveries on the NCS lacking development approval on the Norwegian shelf are thought to be in tight reservoirs.
Conventional extraction methods only enable the recovery of a small portion of these resources, and many of the finds have been considered uneconomical to develop with current technology.
Equinor Norway exploration and production executive vice president Kjetil Hove said: “By viewing our portfolios in context and developing common solutions, we can reduce costs and develop and qualify technology faster.
“Together, we can make challenging resources profitable. This benefits all partners and society at large.”
The Norwegian Offshore Directorate has called on industry players to step up collaboration on technology, standardisation and knowledge sharing in response.
Under the agreement, Equinor and Aker BP will each bring forward relevant prospects, discoveries and projects from their own portfolios.
Well stimulation techniques and resource maturation are also within the scope of the partnership.
A central goal is to generate a level of activity that is both sufficient and predictable enough to underpin a competitive supply chain equipped with expertise and supplier capacity required for tight reservoir projects.
The cooperation will be managed through a joint governance structure and multidisciplinary working groups featuring staff from both companies.
Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said: “Scale is key. By considering the opportunities across both portfolios together, we can create basis for activity, faster learning and lower costs.
“Together, we can develop solutions that can be applied across multiple projects. We are starting the work immediately.”
Recently, Equinor and its partners awarded Aibel a contract to carry out front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the topsides of the production vessel at the Wisting oil discovery in the Barents Sea.
