4. Recovery

MUCH TO BE DONE:

Drilling production wells

The most important way of securing output from a field is to drill production wells. Testing and adopting new drilling and well technology can help to grow reserves by making more challenging targets accessible.

Coordination and area solutions

Most discoveries are developed with seabed installations tied back to existing facilities. In this way, good collaboration across production licences can reduce overall development costs in an area while also making it possible to improve recovery from the host Field

Projects on fields create significant value

Recoverable resources in projects on fields are estimated to total 845 million scm oe. Many projects are planned and implemented on fields which will yield a substantial growth in reserves. Continuously identifying and maturing projects is important for maintaining value creation.

Big opportunities in discoveries

The Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) had 77 discoveries with estimated recoverable resources totalling 697.5 million scm oe at 31 December 2016. A number of these are relatively small, and therefore depend on existing fields or coordinated solutions to be brought on stream. The companies have worked well in recent years to improve their development plans and concepts.

Develop and adopt new technology

The NCS has been a laboratory for developing new technology from the start. Unfortunately, many good ideas fail to get beyond laboratory testing. As fields age, further work on cost-effective solutions which make it possible to recover remaining resources is becoming a matter of urgency. Developing new drilling and well technology represents an important measure which should be given priority.

More players on the NCS

Large companies dominated activity on the NCS until the turn of the century. At 31 December 2016, 46 licensees were represented in 523 active production licences. Several companies are pursuing developments off Norway for the first time. Good experience transfer between new and experienced players on the NCS is important.

Reduced COSTS

The companies have done good work over the past three-four years in reducing costs for both development projects and field operation.

Although action was needed to curb spending, it is important to ensure that such measures do not have unfortunate effects for long-term value creation.