Equinor and its partners will invest just over NOK4 billion ($410 million) in a new subsea development that will boost gas production from Norway's offshore Troll field, the company said on Friday.
Norway is Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas, meeting around 30 per cent of the continent's annual demand, and the North Sea Troll field is its largest gas resource.
The TWIN project agreed with partners Petoro, Shell, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips is expected to contribute a total of around 11 billion standard cubic metres of gas from Troll, Equinor said in a statement.
The companies aim to start production from the new development as early as 2028, said Gunnar Nakken, Equinor's senior vice president for projects and subsea in Norway.
"By simplifying, increasing standardisation, and reusing existing infrastructure and equipment, we are reducing costs and enabling faster production in line with our new ways of working," Nakken said in the statement.
It was not immediately clear how much the project could contribute on a daily or annual basis, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
The TWIN project, consisting of two wells in a seabed template and a pipeline connected to existing subsea facilities, is the third step of Troll phase three, which produces gas from the Troll West reservoir, Equinor said.
It follows the announcement last month that Norway's petroleum safety regulator had given Equinor permission to start gas production from the now completed second phase of Troll phase three.
Operator Equinor owns a 30.55 per cent stake in Troll, while state company Petoro holds 55.93 per cent, Shell 8.19 per cent, TotalEnergies 3.69 per cent and ConocoPhillips 1.64 per cent.
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Nora Buli)