ConocoPhillips and its partners have sanctioned a $1.8 billion subsea tie-back project in Norway's Greater Ekofisk Area, known as the Previously Produced Fields (PPF) project.

Project Scope and Details

The project involves the redevelopment of three older gas and condensate fields: Albuskjell, Vest Ekofisk, and Tommeliten Gamma. This redevelopment will utilize improved well placement and horizontal well technology. The infrastructure plan includes installing four new subsea templates and drilling 11 production wells, all of which will be tied back to the existing Ekofisk complex in the southern North Sea. First production from the project is targeted for late 2028.

Reserves and Strategic Rationale

The project is estimated to hold recoverable reserves of between 90 million and 120 million barrels of oil equivalent. The strategic focus is on projects with a low cost of supply and on increasing gas deliveries to Europe, advancing a near-field resource strategy within the Greater Ekofisk Area.

Ownership and Partnerships

Recent ownership changes have resulted in the following partnership structure for the project licenses:

• ConocoPhillips is the operator for both licenses, holding a 35.1% interest in PL018B/F and a 28.3% interest in PL044/D.
• Other partners include Vaar Energi (52.3% in PL018B/F; 9.1% in PL044/D), Orlen Upstream Norway (7.6% in PL018B/F; 62.6% in PL044/D), and Petoro (5% in PL018B/F).

Industry Context

This project sanction is the second major approval in Norway this month, following Equinor and partners' sanction of the Isflak subsea tie-in at the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.