Repsol gains consent for North Sea field life extension

Norwegian offshore safety regulator has granted Repsol Norge, a subsidiary of Repsol, consent for life extension for a field located in the North Sea off Norway.

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway informed on Wednesday that it had given Repsol consent for life extension of the Blane field, located in the southern part of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, 35 kilometres southwest of the Ula field.

The Repsol-operated Blane field is part of production licence 143 BS, which was previously valid until the fourth quarter of 2022. It has now been extended to 8 July 2027.

Discovered in 1989, the field has been developed with a subsea facility on the British continental shelf with two horizontal production wells tied to the Aker BP-operated Ula field. Following the approval of the plan for development and operation (PDO) in 2005, the production at the field started in 2007. The subsea installation is situated on the British Continental Shelf.

Situated in a water depth of 70 metres, the field is located on the border to the UK sector with the Norwegian share of the field being 18 per cent. It produces oil from Paleocene sandstone in the Forties Formation, while its reservoir is of moderate to good quality and lies at a depth of 3,100 metres.

The production from the field was done with pressure support from the injection of produced water from the Blane, Tambar, and Ula fields until 2019. Currently, the field is producing by pressure depletion and gas lift is used in the wells, while the well stream is transported by a pipeline to the Ula field for processing. The oil is exported further to Teesside in the UK.

Following the Mikkel acquisition, Repsol produces about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalents per day from fields in the Norwegian shelf and operates Blane, Gyda, Rev and Yme fields. In addition, the company is a partner in the Gudrun, Visund, and Veslefrikk fields.

When it comes to recent achievements, it is worth noting that following years of delays, Repsol’s Yme field started producing in late October 2021 and the first lifting of oil from the field was completed in December 2021.