Var Energi AS and license partner Mime Petroleum AS submitted a revised plan for development and operations to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Dec. 17 that would extend the production lifetime of Balder field and the associated Ringhorne deposit in the North Sea to 2045.
Balder field, in PL 001—the first license on the Norwegian Continental Shelf—lies just west of Grane field and was proven in 1967. The original PDO was approved in 1996. Production started in 1999. Today, Balder is developed with subsea wells tied to a production and storage vessel, Balder FPU.
The Ringhorne deposit, directly north of Balder, is included in the field. Ringhorne is developed with a combined living quarters, drilling and wellhead facility tied to the Balder ship, and floating production storage and offloading vessel Jotun A FPSO for processing and storage of crude oil, as well as gas export.
Repairs and upgrading
The Balder Future project, a 19.6-billion kroner investment, calls for extending the life of Jotun A FPSO, as well as development of a new subsea system consisting of five subsea templates, each with a capacity of four wells, and two satellite wells. The development also will facilitate tie-in of additional subsea templates. The plan is to drill 13 production wells and one water injection well leaving eight available slots for future drilling on Balder. The aim is to recover 136 MMboe.
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 Balder and Ringhorne fields.
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. Var Energi also has plans to execute further exploration drilling in the area. All activities will take place while ordinary production continues at the fields.
In 2019, Var Energi AS awarded an engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contract to Rosenberg Worley AS for the lifetime extension of the Jotun A FPSO. Baker Hughes and Ocean Installer will engineer, procure, construct, and install new subsea production systems, umbilicals, risers, and flowlines for the Jotun A FPSO.
“We believe it is important to promote more investment in operating fields to extend lifetime and increase recovery from these fields,” said Arvid Østhus, assistant director of development and operations in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
“The licensees have invested in new seismic and are planning to use modern drilling technology to realize the project. This shows that significant opportunities can still be found on existing fields by using newer technology and maximizing data acquisition, also during the production phase. The licensees are now also facilitating tie-in of potential discoveries in a mature area with considerable ongoing activity,” Østhus said.
Var Energi has reserves and resources of more than 1,900 MMboe. Daily production is expected to reach 350,000 boe by 2023, following investments of 65 billion kroner in development projects on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Balder Future is a key project in the growth plan, Var Energi said.
Vår Energi is operator with 90%. Mime Petroleum is partner with the remaining 10%.