Equinor invests in expanding gas production at Europe's largest Troll field

Norwegian energy company Equinor and its partners are investing more than 12 billion Norwegian kroner (25.8 billion Kč) in expanding production at the Troll field. The company announced the investment today in a press release. The Troll project is located in the North Sea and is Europe's largest gas field.

Norway is already Europe's largest supplier of natural gas. Its position in the European energy market was also strengthened by the war in Ukraine, after which the European Union began rejecting cheap energy from Russia, including natural gas, following the invasion in February 2022.

„Gas from the Troll project alone covers about ten percent of European demand,“ said Kjetil Hove, Equinor's head of exploration and production in Norway.

„This is a highly profitable project that will ensure high gas production from the Troll field,“ added Geir Tungesvik, head of projects, drilling and procurement.

The new infrastructure will accelerate production equivalent to approximately 55 billion cubic metres of gas. At its peak, the additional development is expected to contribute around seven billion cubic metres annually, Equinor said. By comparison – Norway exported 109 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe via pipelines over the whole of last year.

A recent upgrade at the Kollsnes processing plant near the coast has already increased the Troll project's maximum output capacity to 129 million cubic metres of gas per day, up from 121 million. The new investments will increase it further.

„Production from the new wells in the Troll project will be around 20 million cubic metres of gas per day,“ Equinor said.

The new investment, known as the second phase of the Troll Phase 3 project, includes eight new wells and a new gas pipeline to the Troll A platform. The first wells are expected to come on stream at the end of 2026.

Once the extracted gas has been processed at the Kollsnes facility, gas from the Troll project is sent through the Zeepipe pipeline and can be distributed to receiving terminals in Germany, Belgium, France, Britain and Denmark, Reuters reported.

Equinor holds a 30.58 percent stake in the Troll project, while Norwegian state-owned company Petoro owns 56 percent. British oil and gas company Shell holds 8.10 percent, France's TotalEnergies 3.69 percent, and US company ConocoPhillips 1.62 percent.

The announcement of the production expansion comes on the same day that environmental activists filed a lawsuit in an Oslo court challenging Norway's plan to explore for minerals on the seabed. They cite an inadequate assessment of the impacts of mining, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said. In January, the Norwegian parliament approved a proposal to open up a vast ocean area larger than Britain to seabed mineral exploration. The government had previously commissioned a study that concluded the impacts of exploration would be minimal.

Oil production and gas account for a significant share of Norway's gross domestic product (GDP). The country deposits revenue from the sale of mineral resources into its sovereign wealth fund, the largest of its kind in the world. It is currently worth more than 17.4 trillion Norwegian kroner (37.5 trillion Kč), and the government invests the money on behalf of its citizens for the time when fossil fuel extraction ends.