$2B+ North Sea Field Development Gets Norway Nod

Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) has announced that the plan for development and operation (PDO) for the Breidablikk field in the North Sea has been approved by the Norwegian authorities.

The company and its partners - Petoro, Vår Energi, and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia - submitted the development plans for the area to the authorities in September last year. Field investments are approximately $2.1 billion (NOK 18.6 billion), Equinor highlighted. Production from the field is scheduled to start in the first half of 2024, with estimated recovery thought to be around 200 million barrels of oil.

The Breidablikk development will include a subsea solution of 23 oil producing wells from four subsea templates, Equinor noted. The field will be tied back to the Grane platform for processing before oil is piped to the Sture terminal. Equinor outlined that 70 percent of the value creation in the development phase is going to Norwegian companies, with contracts totaling $935 million (NOK 8 billion) having already been awarded to companies in Norway.

“We are very pleased that the authorities have approved the development plans for the Breidablikk field,” Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for projects, drilling, and procurement, said in a company statement.

“The development of one of the largest undeveloped oil discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) will create substantial value for Norwegian society and the owners, while securing high activity and jobs for many years ahead,” Nylund added in the statement.

Kjetil Hove, Equinor’s executive vice president for exploration and production in Norway, said, “there are still large resources left in the ground and we have a world-class infrastructure on the NCS”.

“The Breidablikk development shows how a competent Norwegian petroleum industry keeps developing innovative, cost-effective and future-oriented solutions with good social economy,” Hove added.

The Breidablikk field is located northeast of the Grane field in a water depth of approximately 425 feet. Grane is an oil field development in the North Sea comprising an integrated accommodation, processing, and drilling platform with a fixed steel jacket. It was discovered by Hydro in 1991 and came on stream in 2003.

Earlier this month, Equinor announced that it - along with its partners ExxonMobil, Petrogal Brasil, and Pré-sal Petróleo SA – had decided to develop phase one of the Bacalhau field in the Brazilian pre-salt Santos area. Investment in the asset is said to be approximately $8 billion. Back in April, Equinor and its partners Petoro, Total, Neptune, and Wintershall Dea decided to develop Askeladd Vest in the southern Barents Sea. Investment for this development was said to be close to $374 million (NOK 3.2 billion).

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