Fifth chapter of North Sea oil project’s book now online

December 17, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Vår Energi, a Norwegian oil and gas operator, has put into production mode another addition to an oil project in the North Sea off the coast of Norway.

Vår Energi has confirmed the start-up of Balder Phase V and the completion of Åsgard low pressure production Phase 3 (LPP3) projects. The firm sanctioned the first project in the fourth quarter of 2024, targeting start-up in late 2025. The Balder field is operated by Vår Energi (90%) with Kistos Energy Norway as its partner (10%).

The firm’s Balder X project is set to recover around 200 million barrels of additional reserves from the Balder-Ringhorne area, where the Norwegian player is working to prolong the production lifetime to 2045, as part of the Balder Future re-development project in the North Sea.

Earlier this year, the Norwegian player and its partner took another step to sustain long-term, high-value production through the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) Jotun, with the final investment decision (FID) for Balder Phase VI to fast-track its development as a key contributor to maintaining production levels in the Balder area.

Vår Energi optimistic about production targets as North Sea FPSO ramps up

Exploration & Production

With the Åsgard LPP3 project start-up scheduled for December, the company claims to have delivered on its commitment to complete nine out of nine growth projects in 2025, marking a year of transformational progress for the firm.

As a result of these endeavors, the production has grown from an average of 280,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boepd) in 2024 to around 430,000 boepd. By adding low-cost barrels, the firm’s unit operating cost has been reduced to around $10 per boe, a level which is expected to be sustained going forward.

The development projects delivered this year, in which the company has a stake, are Halten East, Johan Castberg, Balder Jotun FPSO, Ormen Lange Phase 3, Snøhvit Askeladd Vest, Gjøa low pressure project, Åsgard subsea compression Phase 2, Balder Phase V, and Åsgard LPP3, with the Halten East, Balder and Johan Castberg projects being the main contributors to the growth.

These nine projects will contribute around 180,000 boepd net production at peak and have developed 390 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) of net proved plus probable (2P) reserves, reinforcing Vår Energi’s position on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).

Nick Walker, Vår Energi’s CEO, commented: “Delivering all nine projects as promised this year is a major achievement for Vår Energi. This success has driven transformational growth, taken production to record levels, and significantly de-risked the outlook of the company.

“We are on target to sustain production at 350 to 400 kboepd towards 2030 and beyond, and we’ve never been in a stronger position to create long-term value for our shareholders.”