ENI sticks with offshore option for Goliat - Norway
This article is extracted from International Oil Letter, Vol 24 issue 46, published 17 November 2008.
Eni has now confirmed that it has submitted the Impact Assessment plan for Goliat and that oil production will be through subsea wells linked to a circular FPSO. As previously announced, the development will be powered both from shore and by a gas turbine on the FPSO. Eni states that this concept is better from an environmental perspective than a landfall solution. This solution will enhance power supply efficiency and result in lower CO2 emissions compared with using offshore power generation. Additionally, as the two power sources are independent, operations could continue if one source is disrupted - important for Goliat as the reservoir temperature is low and production should therefore not be interrupted.
The company is planning to locate a regional office in Hammerfest, creating local job opportunities but in some quarters this is not enough. Chairman of Finnmark County Council Runar Sjåstad is calling for a postponement of the Goliat field development in the Barents Sea. He would like to wait for more discoveries in the area, which he believes would open for a new debate on the possible landing of the oil. He is not alone, politicians from northern Norway fear that the Goliat development will create precedence for all future projects, and that most oil and gas developers will abandon the landing option. Sjåstad believes that there are good possibilities of finding more oil in the areas close to the Goliat discovery. If this happens there is also a good possibility that a larger oil processing plant can be constructed in the region.
© Copyright 2008, IHS and its affiliated and subsidiary companies, all rights reserved. All trademarks belong to IHS and its affiliated and subsidiary companies unless otherwise noted, all rights reserved.
The material and data contained herein have been compiled for the exclusive use of subscribers of IHS and no part hereof shall be reproduced, quoted or published in any manner without the written consent of IHS. Information presented in and used by IHS is obtained from operator sources but is not warranted as to its accuracy by the publishers.