Production began on August 22 from the Troll Phase 3 stage 2 subsea project, adding gas to the Troll A platform in the North Sea. The project accelerates output of 55 billion standard cubic meters of gas from the Troll West reservoir, an amount equal to nearly two years of France's total gas demand.
Who is behind it
The Troll partnership is led by Equinor as operator, with Petoro, Shell, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips holding the remaining stakes: Petoro 55.93 percent, Equinor 30.55 percent, Shell 8.19 percent, TotalEnergies 3.69 percent and ConocoPhillips 1.64 percent.
'Troll is the backbone of Norwegian gas exports to Europe,' said Lill Harriet Brusdal, vice president for Troll and Kvitebjørn. Both Troll A and the Kollsnes gas plant run on electricity from shore, so the added gas is produced with low emissions, she said.
Ahead of schedule, under budget
The project reached first gas ahead of a schedule that had targeted the end of this year, and several hundred million Norwegian kroner below the NOK 12.3 billion cost estimate, said Trond Bokn, senior vice president for project development at Equinor. 'We start production with excellent HSE results, ahead of schedule,' Bokn said, crediting efficient marine operations and a drilling campaign completed 25 percent faster than planned. First production came a little more than two years after the partnership approved the investment.
SLB and Baker Hughes supplied drilling services as Odfjell's Deepsea Aberdeen rig completed the project's eight wells in five and a half months. We reported that SLB and Equinor would upgrade a stimulation vessel for Norway's tight reservoirs.
Subsea work reuses existing designs
Troll Phase 3 stage 2 builds on subsea facilities from the original Troll Phase 3 project, which came onstream in 2021, reusing design and standardized solutions to cut execution time and cost. In Egersund, Aker Solutions built the templates and manifolds for main subsea supplier OneSubsea, which Ocean Installer then installed on the field. OneSubsea, based in Moss, supplied the umbilical, the bundle of control and chemical lines that link the subsea wellheads to the platform, and extended the existing MEG line. Pioneering Spirit, the world's largest pipelay vessel, installed a 28-kilometer, 36-inch pipeline using line pipe stored on Stord. Aker Solutions also modified Troll A itself, while Randaberg Industries supplied the spools and pipeline end terminations.
Troll's place in Europe's gas supply
Troll holds around 40 percent of the gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf and alone meets around 10 percent of Europe's gas demand. Its annual energy production equals three times Norway's annual hydropower output. This year marks 30 years since Troll became Norway's largest gas-producing field, and the Kollsnes processing plant, which handles Troll's gas, also marks its 30th anniversary. More than 90 percent of the profits from the field go to the Norwegian state through taxes and Petoro's direct ownership stake.
