Frigg Field Ceases Production and Removal Plans Proceed

Aberdeen, Tuesday 26th October 2004 – Total today announced that the Frigg Field ceased production on Tuesday, 26th October 2004 after 27 years on stream.

Frigg, situated 230 km northwest of Stavanger, was in 1971 one of the first fields to be discovered on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and began production in September 1977. Gas from Frigg was delivered to Total’s St Fergus Gas Terminal and sold to customers in the UK. By the beginning of the 1980s, the field supplied the UK with as much as one third of its natural gas requirements. Plateau production from 1978 to 1987 was approx. 16.5 billion Sm3 gas/year and 20,000 Sm3 condensate/year.

“Operation of the Frigg facilities has surpassed everyone’s expectations with regard to safety and reliability. Having attained a recovery rate of 78 percent from the Frigg Field, is an excellent result in both a North Sea and international context Good methods for draining the reservoir, combined with cost-effectiveness and efficient organisational solutions have contributed to extending the production life of the field” said Pierre Offant, Managing Director of Total E&P Norge AS, operator of the field.

Michel Contie, Managing Director Total E&P UK said “Frigg production has contributed to the development of TOTAL’s St Fergus terminal as a major hub in the UK supply network. The terminal is now well positioned to continue it contribution to UK gas need for at least the next 20 years. As a responsible operator, TOTAL’s objective is now to implement the decommissioning of the Frigg Field installations and the MCP-01 compression platform in accordance with the approvals from the Norwegian and UK authorities focusing thoroughly on safety and the environment”

The contract for engineering, preparation, removal and disposal of the Frigg Field installations is intended to be awarded by TOTAL E&P Norge AS to Aker Kvaerner Offshore Partner AS.
Aker Kvaerner Offshore Partner AS, Stavanger will be the lead partner in a consortium of both Norwegian and UK companies including Aker Kvaerner Offshore Partner Ltd., Aberdeen; Aker Stord; Saipem UK and the Shetland Decommissioning Company Ltd.

”The contractor was selected by Total following a rigorous tender process in which consortia of UK and Norwegian companies had the opportunity to submit competitive bids. The studies undertaken in this process will make a significant contribution to the advancement of decommissioning technology. With operations both in UK and Norway Aker Kvaerner are well placed to come up with good cross-border solutions for Frigg” said Jean-Pierre Hurel, Total Frigg Decommissioning Project Director.

Aker Kvaerner plan to carry out the onshore dismantling activities both on the Greenhead Base at Shetland, and at Eldøyane on Stord, Norway.

"Aker Kvaerner plans to develop Greenhead into a fully fledged decommissioning facility, similar to the Eldøyane site in Norway. A base in Shetland will be very important to us in our further efforts in the decommissioning and recycling of platforms that have reached the end of their useful life.” says Tore Sjursen, President of Aker Kvaerrner Offshore Partner, Stavanger.

During the period 2005 to 2008, Aker Kvaerner will remove a total of nearly 85,000 tonnes of steel from the Frigg Field and the MCP-01 compression platform, almost 20,000 tonnes of which will be taken to Shetland for dismantling and the rest will be taken onshore at Stord. All the steel will be recycled.

Notes to Editors:

The Frigg Field which is located in Block 25/1 in the Norwegian sector and block 10/1 in the British sector 230 km northwest of Stavanger, was discovered in 1971 by well 25/1-1in water depths of 100 metres. Field plateau production was achieved between 1978 and 1987 (16.5 billion Sm3 gas/year and 20,000 Sm3 condensate/year). The main reservoir, comprising the Eocene Frigg Sandstone Formation is located at 2,000 metres depth. Recoverable reserves for the field were 192 billion Sm3 gas and over its lifetime achieved a recovery rate of 78%.

As the field straddles the boundary line between the United Kingdom and Norway, a treaty had to be negotiated to govern the distribution of the resources. The treaty confirmed that 60.82 percent of the resources are located on the Norwegian side of the border. Construction of the platforms commenced in September 1973.

The field installations, situated on both the UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea, include five platforms - living quarters, drilling, processing and compression platforms control room and other crew facilities – and one disused steel structure. The MCP-01 platform is no longer used for compression and is located approximately half way along the pipeline route from Frigg to St Fergus.

The Frigg Field installations have three licence partners on the Norwegian side of the field:

Licensee on the UK side of the field:

MCP-01 partners:

For further information:
Andrew Hogg, TOTAL E&P UK Limited – Telephone +44 (0)1224 2979