Statoil targets four oil & gas production technologies

Oslo – Statoil has identified four technologies as critical to its strategy to increase production from 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalents per day (boed) in 2010 to 2.5 million boed in 2020.

The increased production will, in part, be delivered by tapping new resources at extreme subsea depths and in arctic areas, as well as new resources such as shale gas and shale oil, the Norwegian group said.

To achieve its ambitions, Statoil has prioritised the following areas of technology:
- Seismic imaging and interpretation to help discover new resources and increase the recovery rates by 2020.
- Reservoir characterisation and recovery - to contribute to the production of a further 1.5 billion boed in reserves by 2020.
- Efficient well construction - to drill more cost-efficient wells: 30% shorter time on well construction and 15% cost reduction by 2020.
- Realise subsea compression by 2015 and complete a “subsea factory” by 2020 - to accelerate and boost production.

“We have identified four commercially critical technology areas where it has a competitive advantage,” said Margareth Øvrum, executive vice president for technology, projects and drilling.

Statoil, for example, claims to have pioneered the world’s first complete subsea solution for separating and injecting water and sand from the well stream at Tordis and developed the first subsea raw seawater injection facility at Tyrihans. Its next step towards a “subsea factory” is to realise subsea compression at Åsgard and Gullfaks.

“We have set ambitious targets for how technology will help us make further discoveries, boost recovery from existing fields, reduce costs and bring about operational improvements in health, environment and safety.

According to Øvrum, success in these areas, will require closer cooperation between Statoil and external parties, particularly suppliers and national and international research bodies.