Equinor Starts Gas Production at Eirin in Norwegian North Sea

SEATTLE (Oil Monster): Equinor ASA has put onstream the Eirin field in the North Sea, growing Norway's capacity to export natural gas to Europe.

The tieback development holds recoverable resources, mainly gas, of about 27.6 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to majority state-owned Equinor.

With an estimated investment of NOK 4.5 billion ($488.3 million), the project involved connecting a subsea facility to the Gina Krog platform, which began producing 2017. Equinor expects Eirin to extend the production life of the platform by 7 years to 2036.

"Eirin was proven as early as 1978 but was abandoned due to lack of profitability. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Norwegian gas became more important, and the discovery was reassessed in 2023", Equinor said in an online statement.

Kåda Høiland, Equinor senior vice president for late-life fields, said, "The project has given us important learnings on how to develop marginal discoveries quickly and profitably. Such subsea developments will be important for maintaining production and value creation from the Norwegian shelf in the future".

"Early collaboration, efficient decision-making processes and standardized solutions have been crucial to realizing Eirin in a short time", Høiland added. "From the establishment of the project to the start of production, we have only spent three years".

Equinor operates the license with a 58.7 percent stake. Poland's state-backed ORLEN SA owns 41.3 percent.

Equinor expects to grow its production by 3 percent year-on-year in 2026.

In the first quarter, its entitlement production in the Norwegian continental shelf rose 10 percent year-over-year to 1.53 million barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed). International equity and entitlement production climbed 10 percent and 18 percent to 339,000 boed and 287,000 boed respectively.

"In E&P Norway, the ramp-up of the Johan Castberg, Halten East and Verdande fields drove a 10 percent increase in production compared to the same quarter last year", Equinor said in its quarterly report. "New wells also contributed to higher production, while natural decline across several fields partially offset the increase.

"Production in the international upstream business increased in the first quarter, reflecting operational growth and portfolio changes. Higher activity in the Appalachia region and new offshore wells more than offset natural decline in E&P USA.

"In E&P International, the establishment of Adura in December 2025 and the start-up of production from Bacalhau in October 2025 contributed to higher production compared to the same period last year. This was partially offset by the sale of the 40 percent operated interest in Peregrino in November 2025 and natural decline".

Courtesy: www.rigzone.com