Vår Energi and license partner Mime Petroleum have submitted the revised plan for Development and Operations of Balder and Ringhorne, the Balder Future project, to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.
Vår Energi and Mime Petroleum plan to extend the Balder and Ringhorne production lifetime to 2045.
The Balder Future project involves drilling thirteen new production wells and one new water injection well on the Balder field the North Sea. The aim is to recover 136 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe).
The project also includes extending the lifetime of the floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Jotun A.
The Balder field lies in production license PL 001 – the very first license on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). On current production estimates, the project will give the license a total lifespan of over 80 years.
“We are proud to carry the PL 001 legacy forward, and by utilizing existing infrastructure, we contribute to good resource management on the NCS. For Vår Energi this is a major step, and we are proud to be the operator of the Balder Future project, which will be one of the largest projects on the NCS the coming years,” said Vår Energi CEO Kristin F. Kragseth.
Balder Future represents a NOK 19,6 billion investment, and is expected to create almost 30 000 man-years of work through the development project and operations to 2045.
In addition to the new production wells, the project will enable the drilling of extra subsea infill wells, and new wells from the neighboring Ringhorne platform.
Vår Energi also has plans to execute further exploration drilling in the area, which if successful will potentially add even more reserves. All these activities will take place while ordinary production continues at the Balder and Ringhorne fields.
Earlier this year, Vår Energi had already awarded an EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation) contract to Rosenberg Worley in Stavanger, Norway for the lifetime extension of the Jotun A FPSO.
Also Baker Hughes and Ocean Installer in Stavanger, will engineer, procure, construct and install new subsea production systems (SPS), umbilicals, risers and flowlines for the Jotun A FPSO.
“We want to generate opportunities wherever we have our business, and do what we can to create employment and industry ripple effects. I’m happy to see that the main contracts have been awarded locally – which will benefit the supplier industry in the Stavanger region,” said Balder Future Project manager, Lars Håvardsholm.
The Jotun A FPSO will be brought to shore mid 2020 for its upgrade and life extension. During the summer of 2022 the vessel will be reinstalled in the area between the Balder and Ringhorne fields.