The Maria field is a producing oil and gas project located in the Norwegian Sea, Norway. The offshore field commenced production in December 2017.
Wintershall Dea Norge, a Norway-based subsidiary of Wintershall Dea, is the operator of the Maria field with a stake of 50%. Petoro and Spirit Energy Norway are the other partners in the field, owning a stake of 30% and 20%, respectively.
The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) of the field was submitted to the Norwegian authorities in May 2015 and received approval in the same year.
Maria is a subsea development that utilises the existing infrastructure in the Haltenbanken area, Norwegian Sea. The field resource is extracted by employing water injection and gas lift.
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The Maria field is a subsea development tied back to Kristin, Heidrun and Åsgard B production platforms in Norwegian Sea, Norway. Image courtesy of Wintershall.
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The Maria field wellstream is processed by the Equinor-operated Kristin semi-submersible production platform. Image courtesy of Marit Hommedal/Equinor ASA.
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The Maria field receives water for injection into the reservoir from the Equinor-operated Heidrun floating tension leg platform. Image courtesy of Harald Pettersen/Equinor ASA.
Planned to be operated for 25 years, the field achieved its first oil ahead of the originally scheduled start of operations in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Wintershall Dea Norge has initiated a revitalisation project to increase production from the Maria field.
Location and site details
The Maria oil and gas field is located in the Haltenbanken area in the southern Norwegian Sea, Norway, approximately 200km off the coast of Kristiansund. The water depth in the field area is around 300m.
The field is situated in the production licences 475 BS and 475 CS, approximately 20km east of the Kristin field and about 45km southwest of the Heidrun field.
Maria discovery and reservoir details
The Maria field was discovered by Wintershall in 2010 and the significance of the discovery was confirmed by an appraisal well in 2012.
Located approximately 3,800m underneath the sea bed, the Maria field reservoir contains oil and gas in Middle Jurassic Garn Formation.
The offshore field was estimated to contain recoverable reserves of around 180 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) with oil accounting for a major proportion, as of December 2017.
Maria field development details
The Maria oil and gas field is a subsea development tied back to the nearby Equinor-operated Kristin, Heidrun and Åsgard B production platforms.
The field consists of five production wells and two water injection wells. The subsea infrastructure includes two templates, each with four slots, installed on the sea bed at a depth of 300m.
The Kristin semi-submersible production platform processes the well stream received from the Maria field through a subsea pipeline. Later, the stabilised oil is transported from the platform to the Åsgard C floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) for storage and export to shuttle tankers.
The gas is exported from the Kristin platform via a pipeline to the Åsgard Transport System (ÅTS), which transports gas to the Kårstø processing plant, Norway.
The Heidrun floating tension leg platform supplies sulphate-reduced water to the Maria field for injection into the reservoir for pressure support, while the lift gas is provided by the Åsgard B semi-submersible floating production platform via the Tyrihans D subsea template.
In 2020, two infill wells were drilled to address pressure support issues that resulted in lower than the forecasted output levels in the initial stage of production.
Additionally, Wintershall Dea Norge initiated the Maria revitalisation project to increase production from the field, by installing additional six-slot integrated template structures (ITS).
Contractors involved
FMC Technologies was contracted to supply two existing subsea templates for the Maria field development.
Seadrill-operated semi-submersible rig West Mira was contracted to drill two infill wells in the Maria field in 2020.
Subsea 7 was awarded a pipeline and subsea construction contract, worth approximately $300m (£197m), by Wintershall Norge for the Maria field project in May 2015. The contract covered engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of rigid flowlines, with a length of around 95km, and associated structures.
Odfjell Drilling's semi-submersible rig Deepsea Stavanger was contracted to drill the Maria field wells in September 2015. Deepsea Stavanger drilled seven wells in the Maria field in 2017 and 2018.
Halliburton Norge was awarded a four-year contract to provide drilling services for exploration and development wells of Wintershall Norge in Norway in May 2016. The contract included the provision of drilling services for six Maria development wells.
TechnipFMC was awarded an integrated engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (iEPCI) contract by Wintershall Dea Norge for the Maria revitalisation project in April 2022. The scope of the contract, valued between £57.6m ($75m) and £192m ($250m), included the supply and installation of subsea trees, spools, jumpers, and flexible pipes.