Norwegian oil and gas player Vår Energi has handed out a revised plan for development and operation (PDO) of a project in the Barents Sea to Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy to enable higher production for longer from an offshore field.
Vår Energi has submitted an amended PDO for the Goliat Gas Export (GGE) project to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy to increase oil production from the Goliat field in the Barents Sea through optimized reservoir management following the production of the gas reserves, currently being re-injected into the reservoir.
Torger Rød , Vår Energi’s COO, commented: “This is an effective, value creating project with significant upside. The project expands the infrastructure in the Barents Sea and unlocks future developments. Importantly, it extends the operational life of the Goliat field by approximately ten years, to around 2050, thereby strengthening the long-term security of energy supply to Europe.”
This content is available after accepting the cookies.
The Norwegian firm claims that the incremental oil will be sold from the start, while the gas will be exported to the Hammerfest LNG plant under a gas bank arrangement, agreed with Snøhvit , and sold when processing capacity is available. The partners in the Goliat licence (PL229) are Vår Energi (operator, 65%) and Equinor (35%).
The project is developing proved plus probable (2P) reserves of 112 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) gross (73 mmboe net Vår Energi), of which approximately 15% is oil. The development is expected to come online in the third quarter of 2029. Since Goliat is fully electrified with power from shore, the GGE project is said to represent no additional CO2 emissions.
The project comprises new subsea infrastructure connecting the FPSO Goliat to the Snøhvit pipeline, including a gas riser, umbilical, and a 12-kilometer gas export pipeline. The modifications to the FPSO are expected to enable the new infrastructure to be connected to existing facilities on the vessel.
According to Vår Energi, the GGE project facilitates efficient gas solutions for future projects to be connected to the FPSO Goliat, with the first being the Goliat Ridge development. The total investments for the GGE project amount to around $360 million gross pre-tax ($233 million net pre-tax).
“The project has robust economics with a breakeven in line with the company’s target and provides significant upside potential from optimization of Goliat operations,” emphasized the company.
Vår Energi confirmed reservoir quality and added recoverable volumes by drilling a well in January 2026 to appraise an oil discovery in the Barents Sea.