North Sea oil project comes on stream ahead of schedule

Norway’s state-owned energy giant Equinor has brought on stream the Breidablikk field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea four months ahead of schedule.

The Breidablikk field, which commenced production on October 20, holds almost 200 million barrels of recoverable oil. Its plateau production is estimated at a gross 55-60,000 kboepd, with production at plateau level expected in the period 2024 to 2026.

The development includes 22 subsea wells drilled from four templates. Pipelines and cables have been installed between the subsea facility and the Grane platform, which has been modified to receive the well stream.

“Breidablikk can help to extend the productive life and the approximately 1000 jobs associated with the operation of the Grane field towards 2060. By utilising existing infrastructure both offshore and onshore, this is a cost-effective development. At peak, Breidablikk is expected to send up to 55-60,000 barrels of oil to the market daily, mainly to Europe,” said Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s Executive Vice President for Exploration and Production Norway.

When the plan for development and operation (PDO) was submitted in September 2020, production from Breidablikk was scheduled to start in the first half of 2024, with predrilling and completion of five wells. Now, eight wells have already been drilled, and the drilling of additional wells will continue on the field until the end of 2025.

The oil from Breidablikk is processed on Grane and sent ashore by pipeline to the Sture terminal in Øygarden.

Discovered in 1992, the field is located in the central part of the North Sea, ten kilometers northeast of Grane, at 130 meters of water depth.

The partnership for Breidablikk comprises Equinor Energy as the operator, holding 39%, Vår Energi holding 34.4%, Petoro 22.2%, and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia 4.4% Investments in the project are expected to be just over NOK 21 billion (around $1.9 billion).

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) recently gave Equinor consent for the Breidablikk subsea installations, pipelines, control cables, and associated modifications on the Grane field. This came days after Equinor secured the seal of approval from the Norwegian authorities to bring the project online.