Polish energy company ORLEN, together with its partners, has completed another phase of the development of the Ormen Lange gas field. Thanks to the use of innovative technical solutions, gas output will significantly increase. ORLEN estimates that the investment will provide an additional 0.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually at peak production.
“Ormen Lange is the second-largest gas field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and one of the most valuable upstream assets in the ORLEN Group’s portfolio. This investment will raise our annual production from the field to 1.5 billion cubic meters, strengthening the company’s position in Norway. It is also an example of a responsible approach to extraction—our solutions eliminate carbon dioxide emissions while improving resource efficiency. Thanks to strong cooperation with partners and contractors, the entire project was completed on time and within budget,” said Ireneusz Fąfara, President & CEO of ORLEN.
The Ormen Lange field was discovered in 1997, with reserves estimated at 330 billion cubic meters of gas. It is located in the Norwegian Sea, about 120 km off the coast, at a sea depth of 850–1,000 meters, with the reservoir itself lying roughly 3,000 meters below the seabed.
The third phase of development involved installing four gas compressors to compensate for the drop in reservoir pressure that would otherwise gradually reduce output. Despite the nearly one-kilometer sea depth, the license partners chose to install the compressors on the seabed rather than on offshore platforms, which is the industry standard. This approach improved extraction efficiency, reduced costs, and enhanced worker safety. The compressors are powered and controlled from shore.
“Ormen Lange is one of the most technically advanced extraction projects in the world. Connecting subsea compressors to the onshore power grid means they run almost entirely on renewable energy. Their operations are controlled from the Nyhamna gas terminal, 120 kilometers away from the field. Ensuring efficient remote management over such a distance was a major challenge—similar solutions had previously only been used at much shorter ranges on the Shelf,” explained Wiesław Prugar, ORLEN Management Board Member for Upstream.
Before installation, engineers carried out extensive testing to validate control systems—first through computer simulations, then using a full-scale model the size of a football field. This also allowed them to refine the software supporting the control systems.
At peak performance, the Ormen Lange compressors will increase daily gas output by as much as 50%, boosting ORLEN’s production by about 500 million cubic meters annually. The total volume of recoverable gas from the field will also rise by an additional 30–50 billion cubic meters, of which ORLEN’s share will be 4–7 billion cubic meters. This raises the recovery factor at Ormen Lange from 75% to 85%, placing it among the most efficiently developed gas fields worldwide.
The Ormen Lange license partners include ORLEN Upstream Norway (14%), Petoro (36.5%), Equinor Energy (25.4%), Norske Shell (17.8%, field operator), and Vår Energi (6.3%).
ORLEN Upstream Norway currently produces from 20 fields and is preparing seven more for development. Last year, the company produced 40.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, including nearly 4.6 billion cubic meters of gas, which is transported to Poland via the Baltic Pipe pipeline.
Under ORLEN’s strategy, by 2030 the Group’s own gas production is expected to rise by about 50% to 12 billion cubic meters annually, with 6 billion cubic meters coming from Norway. This growth aligns with forecasts of Poland’s gas demand, projected to increase to 27 billion cubic meters annually from 2030, driven primarily by new gas-fired power plants as part of the country’s energy transition.
