Spirit Energy and licence partners have decided to develop the Hanz discovery in the Norwegian North Sea.

The partnership made the final investment decision (DG3) for the development on 14 December 2021. The project has matured a solution with reuse of existing infrastructure that both strengthens the project economy and minimizes the environmental footprint.

Hanz is an oil and gas discovery that will be tied into the Ivar Aasen platform situated about 12 kilometres further south. The development will include one production well and one water injection well, and reuse of the subsea production systems from the Jette field.

Linda Ingebrigtsen, Asset Manager at Spirit Energy Norway, said: “We have identified an optimized development solution, among other things through the reuse of underwater production equipment from the Jette field. This way the development solution will be cost-effective and have a low environmental footprint.”

Total development investments for Hanz are estimated at approximately 3.3 billion Norwegian kroner (approximately £280 million). Expected start-up is in the first half of 2024. Total reserves are around 20 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).

Ingebrigtsen said: “Production from Hanz will contribute to maintaining good production from the Ivar Aasen platform for several years. As Ivar Aasen will be powered with electricity from shore from 2022, Hanz is a development with low CO2 emissions.”

Spirit Energy is also partner in the Ivar Aasen field, with a 12 percent owner share.

The partnership in Hanz (PL 028 B) is Spirit Energy (15%), Aker BP (35% and operator) and Equinor (50%).

About Spirit Energy

   - Spirit Energyirit Energy is an oil and gas exploration & production company with two shareholding entities: Centrica (69%), and Stadtwerke München GmbH SWM (31%).
   - Operated and non-operated interests across the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands, with more than 30 producing fields and approx. 128 exploration licences (2020).
   - 2020-production of 44.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).
   - Proven and probable (2P) reserves of 246 mmboe (2020).
   - Total workforce of approx. 850.