Production at Heidrun is normally limited by the gas handling capacity. Maximum oil production is achieved by producing wells with the lowest gas/oil ratio (GOR) and at the same time utilize the available gas capacity. GOR may change over time, so to obtain desired production it is vital with a continuous follow-up work of well testing and maintenance of multiphase meters. The Heidrun field also has many wells with challenges like; sand entrainment, drifting draw-down, limited draw-down or bottom hole pressure (BHP) and drifting GOR. These elements are crucial to control to achieve desired production. This time-consuming task is handled through a close cooperation between offshore operations and production engineers onshore. Automatic choke control is installed at Heidrun to ensure operation at the maximum gas capacity and keeping the wells at desired operating point. The automatic controllers lead more precise production from each well with a totalized higher production, reduced emissions, reduced operator loads and is a valuable tool for production optimization.

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