Statoil with partners Petoro and OMV have started the world's first wet gas compression on the seabed of the North Sea Gullfaks field, the company said in its press release.

The unique technology will increase recovery by 22 million barrels of oil equivalent (oe) and extend plateau production by around two years from the Gullfaks South Brent reservoir.

Statoil is the first company to apply subsea gas compression. In mid-September Statoil also started Åsgard subsea gas compression.

The two projects are the first of their kind worldwide, and represent two different technologies for maintaining production when the reservoir pressure drops after a certain time.

Subsea compression has stronger impact than conventional platform-based compression.

The video below represents timelapse footage of the Gullfaks Subsea Wet Gas Compression installation:

It is furthermore an advantage that the platform avoids increased weight and the extra space needed on the platform for a compression module.

Subsea compression is an important technological leap to further develop the concept of a subsea factory.

Source:statoil.com