Equinor and its partners have started production from Troll Phase 3 stage 2 in the North Sea ahead of the original schedule.
Production began on 22 August 2026. The project accelerates production of 55 billion standard cubic metres of gas from the Troll West reservoir, with the gas routed to Troll A through existing infrastructure.
Troll Phase 3 stage 2 had originally been scheduled to start production towards the end of 2026. Equinor said the project came on stream just over two years after the partnership’s investment decision, with costs several hundred million Norwegian kroner below the NOK 12.3 billion estimate.
The development uses subsea infrastructure established for the first Troll Phase 3 project, which started production in 2021. Existing designs and standardised solutions were reused for the latest phase.
An eight-well drilling campaign was completed in five and a half months using the Deepsea Aberdeen rig from Odfjell, with services provided by SLB and Baker Hughes. Equinor said the drilling programme was completed 25% faster than planned.
Aker Solutions built templates and manifolds in Egersund for main supplier OneSubsea, while Ocean Installer installed the equipment at the field.
An umbilical supplied by OneSubsea in Moss and the MEG line were extended from existing facilities. A 28 km, 36-inch pipeline was installed by Pioneering Spirit, while the line pipe was stored on Stord.
Randaberg Industries supplied spools and pipeline end terminations, and Aker Solutions carried out modifications on Troll A.
The Troll partnership comprises Petoro AS, with a 55.93% interest; Equinor Energy AS, 30.55%; A/S Norske Shell, 8.19%; TotalEnergies EP Norge AS, 3.69%; and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS, 1.64%. Equinor Energy AS is the operator.
Troll Phase 3 produces gas from Troll West while oil production continues. The gas is transported to Troll A before being sent through existing infrastructure.
The partners have also decided to proceed with the next phase through the TWIN project, or Troll West Increased gas recovery North.
