Norway: Repsol enters as Total exits Visund field

Spanish oil company Repsol has reached an agreement with Total to acquire its 7.7% stake in the Visund field, located in the North Sea. This means that Total will no longer have interest in the field. 

With this transaction, Repsol’s net output in Norway will grow to approximately 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, which represents an increase of around 40% in production in the country, the oil company said on Thursday.

Following the acquisition, Repsol will become part of the Visund field’s operating consortium, which will be composed of Statoil, the operator with a 53.2% share, Petoro, with 30%, ConocoPhillps, with 9.1% and Repsol with the remaining 7.7%.

The Visund field is an oil and gas reservoir located 22 kilometers offshore north –east of the Gullfaks field in the Tampen area outside Norway. In 2017, it achieved an average production of 124,614 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

On stream since the spring of 1999, the field has been developed with a floating production, drilling and quarters platform. The subsea-completed wells on the field are tied back to the floater with flexible risers. Oil is piped to Gullfaks for storage and export. The Visund field began producing gas and exporting it to continental Europe on October 7, 2005.

Repsol noted that this acquisition reaffirms its commitment to Norway, a key country for the company.

The company reached an agreement with Statoil in 2015 to acquire a 15% stake in the Gudrun field, and is also moving forward on the Yme field development, where a revised Plan for Development and Operation was submitted on December 19, 2017.

Repsol has a working interest in 25 production licenses in Norway.