On Friday 27 August at 21.25, production started from the Troll phase 3 project in the North Sea, according to the company's release.
The project has a break-even price below 10 dollars and CO2 emissions of less than 0.1 kg per barrel oil equivalent. The new wells are tied in to the Troll A platform and Troll phase 3 will extend the platform’s life past 2050.
Recoverable volumes from Troll phase 3, which will produce the Troll West gas cap, are estimated at as much as 347 billion cubic metres of gas. Converted into oil equivalent this amounts to 2.2 billion barrels. Investments are approximately NOK 8 billion.
The Troll partners are Equinor, Petoro, Shell, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips.
Troll has generated substantial revenues for 25 years and will continue to do so for many years to come. Annual state revenues from the Troll phase 3 project alone are estimated at an average of more than NOK 17 billion (2021).
The Troll phase 3 project consists of eight wells in two templates, a new pipeline and umbilical connecting the templates to Troll A as well as a new gas processing module on the platform.
Around 70 percent of the deliveries to the Troll phase 3 project come from Norwegian suppliers.
The annual export volume from Troll is equivalent to approximately 8% of the EU’s gas consumption, and the further development of the Troll field also reinforces Norway’s ability to secure gas deliveries to Europe in the coming decades.
Over the course of 25 years, Troll A has contributed to transforming the energy consumption in Europe from coal to gas, with far lower greenhouse gas emissions. It was also the first platform on the Norwegian continental shelf to be electrified, as early as in 1996.
Like several other projects, Troll phase 3 has also felt the effects of Covid-19. The original start-up date for the project was in the second quarter of 2021, but pandemic-related labour shortages and infection control measures have delayed start-up somewhat.