North Sea

Quick Guide: Subsea Projects in The North Sea Oil and Gas Fields

Where is the North Sea?

The subsea oil and gas North Sea projects are located in the sea between Norway, the British Isles and the Continent. It is a border sea to the Atlantic Ocean. 

North Sea Subsea Oil and Gas

How deep is the North Sea?

The maximum water depth in the North Sea is approximately 700 meters. The North Sea consists of two deposit basins; The southern North Sea has deposits from carbon, while the northern North Sea has tertiary deposits of up to 3000 meters. 

Engineering, Design and Analysis of Subsea Foundation Structures

Prosjektering, Design og Analyser av Undervanns Fundament Strukturer

Subsea Oil and Gas Developments in the North Sea

A North Sea field is one or numerous oil and gas discoveries combined which the licensees or operators have decided to develop, and for which the authorities have authorised a plan for development and operation (pdo) or granted a pdo exemption. Since first oil was produced and started in 1971, gas, oil and condensate have been produced from a whole of 106 North Sea fields on the Norwegian shelf. At the end of 2018, 83 North Sea projects fields have been in production: sixty three in the north sea, 18 in the norwegian sea and a pair of field inside the barents sea.

The North Sea basins are separated by an underwater ridge. In both pools there are salt deposits. The thickest deposits are found near the center line between the British and Norwegian continental shelves. Here are sediment-filled ditches which contain a number of deposits of oil and natural gas.

In the Southern North Sea, the carbon-bearing sandstone from carbon is important as a source rock for many gas deposits, which here lies in a porous desert sandstone from the perm and is trapped under a lid of rock salt. In the Central and Northern North Seas, a black shale, Kimmeridge shale, is important as a source rock for both oil and gas. 

Ekofisk and Statfjord Oil and Gas Fields

The Ekofisk deposits lie in a cracked chalk limestone under a dense slate lid. The oil fields in the Statfjord area have porous sandstones from the Upper Triassic and Jurassic as a reservoir. The North Sea gas fields in the Frigg area are connected to porous sandstone from the oldest part of the Tertiary.

North Sea Oil and Gas

Subsea Production Systems

Subsea oil and gas field developments in the North Sea is complicated and it takes years from the initial successful geophysical and seismic surveys to first oil. Exploration drilling and the reservoir can be defined and the volume of oil and gas or condensate can be estimated. The North Sea Oil and Gas Fields layout can now be developed, including the design of the subsea production systems, pipelines routing and the topside oil production facilities and installations. After all the wells have been drilled and the subsea production systems are installed, the oil production projects can finally begin.

Top 10 Subsea North Sea Projects and Oil Field Developments

Below is a top 10 list of North Sea Projects in the Subsea oil and gas field developments:

  • Brage by Equinor
    Brage is an oil field with some gas. The Brage platform is an integrated accommodation, processing and drilling installation on a steel jacket. The field started operating in 1993 and reached top production in 1998 at 120,000 barrels of oil per day. Brage currently produces 25,000 barrels per day. Transport The oil is transported in a pipeline to Oseberg ...
  • NUGGETS by Total
    field is located in blocks 3/18c, 3/19a, 3/19b, 3/20a, 3124a, 3/24c and 3125a in the UK sector of the northern North Sea, south of Dunbar, where the water depth is 120m. NUGGETS, North Sea, Total, Europe(North),
  • Kristin Deepwater by Equinor
    Four subsea templates installed on Kristin will be tied back to a floating production platform with a daily production capacity of 126,000 barrels of condensate and just over 18 million cubic metres of rich gas. The reservoir lies almost 5,000 metres beneath the seabed, and is due to be drained through 12 subsea wells. The ...
  • Morpeth by British Borneo
    The Morpeth project received official sanction from British-Borneo in February 1997. Model tests were executed in April, and first steel was cut in July. The keel was laid in October and the pile foundations were installed in November. The hull was loaded out in mid-July 1998 and installed using McDermott’s DB50 derrick barge in DP ...
  • Tyrihans by Equinor
    field is located on the Haltenbank in the Norwegian Sea, 35km southeast of the Kristin field in roughly 285m of water. The discovery comprises two structures – Tyrihans North and Tyrihans South. Tyrihans, North Sea, Equinor, Europe(North),
  • Shearwater by Shell
    field lies in the Central Graben area of the central North Sea, approximately 200km east of Aberdeen in 90m (995ft) of water. Shearwater, North Sea, Shell, Europe(North),
  • Snøhvit Gas by Equinor
    gas field development comprises three fields – Snøhvit, Albatross and Askeladd. These lie in the Barents Sea, about 140km north-west of Hammerfest in northern Norway. The fields were discovered in 1984 in 250m to 345m of water. Snøhvit Gas, Barents Sea, Equinor, Europe(North),
  • Hanze F2A by Veba Oil Netherlands
    lies in block F/2 in the Dutch sector of the North Sea, about 200km north-west of Den Helder. The field has reserves exceeding 34 million barrels of oil, as well as 40bcf of associated gas. Hanze F2A, North Sea, Veba Oil Netherlands, Europe(North),
  • R Block Development-Renee by ConocoPhillips
    development is located approximately 200km north-east of Aberdeen. Renee lies in 146m of water, 21.6km from the AH001. Rubie lies in a water depth of 148m, 5.6km away from Renee. R Block Development-Renee, North Sea, ConocoPhillips, Europe(North),
  • Gungne by Equinor
    Gungne is a satellite to Sleipner East in the North Sea. This reservoir was discovered in 1982, and began producing on 21 April 1996 through a well drilled from the Sleipner A platform. Measuring 7,377 metres in horizontal offset from Sleipner A, this well represented a record for Statoil at the time. It has a total measured depth ...

More Worldwide Subsea Projects

The database include many more subsea oil and gas projects which can be can be sorted by oil field areas as listed below. Click on your area of interest to learn more about the projects.

More North Sea Oil and Gas Projects