Goliat will be developed with state of the art technology in order to minimize emissions in an environmentally important area, field operator Eni writes in a press release.
The plan is to use subsea wells linked to a circular floating production, storage and offloading facility. This will make it possible to utilize electricity supplied from shore combined with a gas turbine for power and heat on the offshore facility. This will result in significantly lower levels of CO2 emissions.
Eni has decided to locate its regional office in Hammerfest. The supply and helicopter base will also be located in the Hammerfest area. Together with the offshore organization, these operations will initially require between 150-200 direct jobs during the operations phase. In addition, a significant number of indirect jobs will be created through purchases of goods and services.
This is going to be one of the biggest in northern Norway ever and local politicians hope the project will make as many as 600 new jobs, NRK reports.
The Goliat field was discovered in 2000 when the first exploration well was drilled. Reserves are estimated to approximately 180 million barrels of oil equivalents of oil and gas. The total Goliat investments are estimated to approximately 28 billion NOK. The planned start-up for the project is 2013.
Through its subsidiary Eni Norge, Eni is one of the major companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Eni Norge was established in Norway in 1965, and has a daily production of approximately 130,000 barrels (of oil equivalents). Eni Norge is operator of 15 licenses and has ownership interest in 52 licenses on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
