5 Biggest North Sea Oil Platforms

According to Statista, the North Sea is home to around 184 oil platforms. Second in place is the Gulf of America, with 175 rigs. Although there are many offshore oil platforms in the world, the North Sea Oil platforms are one of the largest and are known for their enormous production capacity.

This article will look at the 5 biggest North Sea oil platforms, ranked according to their production capacity.

However, before that, let’s look at offshore oil platforms in brief.

Offshore oil platforms enable the extraction and processing of oil and natural gas via drilled wells. They also store the extracted products before they are shipped to land facilities for refining and marketing purposes.

There are different kinds of offshore platforms used in lakes, oceans or seas, such as fixed platforms that are anchored onto the seafloor using concrete or steel columns. There are tension-leg platforms which remain afloat however, they are also tethered to the seabed.

Working on Offshore oil platforms, especially in the North Sea, is challenging given the harsh weather conditions. There is always the risk of explosions and fires.

Prominent names in the offshore oil and gas sector are Pemex, Equinor, and Saudi Aramco, which operate many of the world’s offshore oil and gas platforms.

Now, let us explore the five biggest North Sea oil platforms.

1. Johan Sverdrup Field Platform

Johan Sverdrup is the 3rd biggest oil field on the Norwegian Shelf in the North Sea with estimated oil reserves of 2.7 barrels. It accounts for a third of Norway’s oil production.

Owned by Aker BP, Equinor, Petoro and TotalEnergies, it will remain functional till 2054. It was discovered in 2010, and plans for the first phase of development were approved in 2015.

It involved the development of 4 North Sea oil platforms with living quarters, processing, drilling and riser facilities, each connected with the other via bridges. Phase one opened in 2019, and the second phase came on stream in 2022.

The field lies in 110 to 120 m water depths, spans 200 square kilometres and reached its peak production in May 2023 with 755,000 bpd.

An expansion project has begun in the field, namely Phase 3, which is at the feasibility stage and is expected to begin in 2028.

2. Ekofisk 2/4 J Oil Platform

Ekofisk field in the North Sea was discovered in 1969, and a plan for its development was approved in 1972. The Ekofisk Complex has been developed in stages and includes 9 platforms.

One such is the Ekofisk 2/4 J, a processing and transportation platform which began operations in 1998. It is a hub of production, and oil and gas from several fields are processed and stored here.

The platform processes oil and gas before shipping them via a 354 km long pipeline to a terminal in Teesside, UK, while the gas is sent to Emden, Germany, through another pipeline.

Its central control room manages all the processes on the platform and its connected units. Ekofisj 2/4 J has a processing capacity of 21.2 million m3 of gas and 350,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Tour C facility that cleans produced water from the field lies on Ekofisk 2/4 J and can clean 150,000 barrels of water each day before discharging it into the sea.

The Ekofisj 2/4 J is the biggest energy producer in the Greater Ekofisk region, and two gas turbines with a capacity of 44 MW were also fitted to supply the power grid on the oil and gas field.

3. Gullfaks C

The Gullfaks field is situated in Block 34/10 in the northern portion of the North Sea. It has three production platforms, namely Gullfaks A, B and C, which have a concrete superstructure.

Gullfaks C is one of the platforms with processing & drilling facilities along with accommodation for 300 people.

Approximately 240,000 m3 of concrete and 80,000 tonnes of reinforcement steel were used in its construction.

It has a total deck load capacity of 49,000 tonnes. Its height from the seafloor is 380 m, taller than the Eiffel Tower. Gullfaks C produces around 250,000 barrels of oil per day.

It also exports oil and gas from the Gimle, Visund Sor and Gullfaks Sor facilities. Also, production from the Tordis Oil Field is processed in a facility on this platform.

Gullfaks C was installed in May 1989 in a water depth of 216 m and began production on 1 January 1990. Its lifespan was estimated to be three decades.

In the 1970s, this region was called the ‘Golden Block’ as it yielded massive oil and gas reserve discoveries.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate has allowed Gullfaks C to operate until 30 June 2036. The decision was made to recover the leftover resources and for the platform to function as a host platform for other potential deposits nearby.

Most importantly, it is vital for recovering oil from tight layers in the Shetland group and Lista formation.

4. Statfjord B platform

The Statfjord field lies in the Tampen area in the northern part of the North Sea. It has been in production since 1979 and is one of the biggest oil fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

It has three platforms called Stafjord A, B and C, all having oil storage cells.

The field was discovered in 1974 and has a main field and satellite fields whose total oil production peaked at 5 million barrels in 2016.

After subsurface mapping, the stakeholders decided in January 2020 to extend the lifespan of the field to 2040 by drilling 100 new wells by 2030.

Statfjord B platform lies in the southern part of the field in 145 m of water. It began production in 1982 and was ranked as the world’s biggest concrete platform at that time.

The platform is 271 m high and weighs 816,000 tonnes. It has 42,500-tonne topsides and can store 1.9 million barrels of oil while producing around 180,000 barrels per day.

It has 24 cells, 19 to store crude oil, one for diesel oil and 4 extended into shafts for supporting the topside.

5. Snorre A Platform

Snorre is an oil and gas field, around 200 km west of Floro, in the Tampen region of the Norwegian North Sea in a water depth of 300 to 380 metres.

It is operated by Equinor, with others including Petoro, Var Energi, Idemitsu Petroleum and Wintershall Dea Norge.

The field has two platforms, namely, Snorre A and B. Snorre A, which came on stream in 1992, is being expanded to extend the lifespan of the field to 2040.

A tension leg platform or TLP, Snorre A has production and drilling units, along with living quarters and an installation unit.

It is moored to the seafloor through 16 steel tethers. It has a 30,000-ton steel hull and a steel deck. The 2400-tonne production unit lies at a 335 m water depth.

It has 6 oil wells and 4 water injectors to produce approximately 60,000 barrels per day.

Snorre B is a semi-submersible platform with four columns. It undertakes drilling and processing operations and is situated 7 km from Snorre A. It also transports oil to Stafjord B for storage and export through a pipeline.

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