Norwegian state-owned producer, Equinor, together with its partners started production from the €4bn ($4.5bn) Aasta Hansteen gas field in the Norwegian Sea December 16, with the gas now being sold on the market, the operator said December 17. The deep-water gas development is in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea, 300 km off the mainland of Norway and in water depths of 1,300 metres.

The total gross estimated recoverable reserves, including the Snefrid North discovery, which was included in the development, are about 324mn barrels of oil equivalent (55.6bn m³) and 4.1mn boe of condensate. Aasta Hansteen and the 482-km pipeline from the field to Nyhamna has the capacity to accommodate new discoveries also. Snefrid North will come on stream towards the end of 2019, said Equinor.

The field pipeline terminates at the Nyhamna plant in western Norway, where the rich gas is processed before dry gas is sent on to the UK and continental Europe through Norway’s integrated transport system. In order to accommodate deliveries from Aasta Hansteen and future discoveries in the Norwegian Sea, the Nyhamna plant – also reception point for the much larger Ormen Lange field – has been extensively converted and expanded.  

The CEO of pipeline operator Gassco, Frode Leversund, said the Polarled line that carries the gas would help to maintain gas deliveries from Norway to Europe for a long time to come. Norwegian gas has never been in such demand as it is today, he said, pointing to the record deliveries to Europe achieved through Norway’s gas transport system this summer – which was also a period of record deliveries to the same market for Russian exporter Gazprom.

The partners in Aasta Hansteen are Equinor (operator, 51%), German Wintershall (24%), Austrian OMV (15%) and US ConocoPhillips (10%). Wintershall said: "The production from Aasta Hansteen cements our production well above 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day and ensures a balanced energy portfolio with more than half of our production now coming from gas."