Utsira High
The Utsira High Project is a bundle of three separate subsea tie-in projects in the central part of the North Sea. Symra will be a tie-in to the Ivar Aasen platform, while Solveig phase 2 and Troldhaugen will be connected to the Edvard Grieg platform.
The Utsira High Project develops recoverable resources of 124 million barrels oil equivalent. Drilling will commence in third quarter 2025, while production start-up is scheduled for first quarter 2026 for Solveig and Troldhaugen, and first quarter 2027 for Symra.
The total investments are estimated to approximately NOK 21 billion in real terms.
Aker BP is the operator for all three developments. Partners are Equinor, OMV, Sval Energi and Wintershall Dea. (See below for details on partnership for the three separate production licenses). All three projects are covered by the temporary tax regime adopted by the Parliament (Stortinget) in 2020.
The Utsira High Project adds valuable production to our portfolio as we already have processing capacity and export facilities in the area with Edvard Grieg and Ivar Aasen. Further we provide new infrastructure in the North-Eastern part of the Grieg/Aasen asset area opening possibilities for further developments in the vicinity, while the Troldhaugen development unlocks potential for future development of additional volumes in basement reservoirs.
Troldhaugen is the first development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf with reservoir mainly consisting of weathered and fractured basement rock (granite). Oil deposits in bedrock have until now not been considered technically and economically viable for production because granitic bedrock is usually very dense. But if the granite is cracked and water has dissolved the minerals, it may be saturated with hydrocarbons.
All producing fields on the Utsira High will be operated with electrical power from shore. Hence the CO2 emissions from the production phase will be very low.
Edvard Grieg was designed and built as a field centre with the capacity to be a host platform for new fields in the vicinity. Edvard Grieg is also the host platform for the Solveig field (phase 1) and for test production from the Troldhaugen discovery. The Ivar Aasen field was a coordinated development with the Edvard Grieg field. Oil and gas from Ivar Aasen are transported to the Edvard Grieg platform for final processing.