Statoil's Luva to open up Norwegian Sea gas

Statoil has chosen a bold development plan for its Luva deep-water gasfield, which will see construction of a new gas-landing pipeline in northern waters and the country’s first use of a spar deep-water platform

Gas from the new area is to be landed to an expanded Nyhamna terminal, from which it will be exported through existing pipelines to continental Europe and the UK. The Luva development, due on stream in 2016, will bring infrastructure to the Norwegian Sea’s remote Vøring basin, where other gas discoveries have been made and many blocks are seeing exploration (PE 10/10 p31). Statoil says reserves in Luva, together with the nearby Haklang and Snefrid South structures, to be developed with it, are in the range of 40 billion to 60 billion cubic metres (cm). The company says RWE Dea’s Zidane field and Shell’s Linnorm field will be connected to the new pipeline initially. Zidane, discovered in 2010