UPDATE: Norway Approves Oseberg Extension Plan

Norway has sanctioned Statoil’s plan for development and operation of the Oseberg Vestflanken 2. Its reserves are projected at 110mn barrels of oil equivalent and the investment is estimated at Nkr 8.2bn (in 2015 value).

The Oseberg Vestflanken 2 development consists of an unmanned wellhead platform with ten well slots. In addition two existing subsea wells will be reused. All wells will be remote-controlled from Oseberg field centre. 

“Oseberg Vestflanken 2 is a pioneer project of great strategic importance,” said Statoil’s senior vice president for project management, Torger Rod.

Oseberg West (image credit: Statoil)

The project is a pilot that other operators, public authorities and the rest of Statoil’s project portfolio are already learning from. The concept is new in Norway, but has been thoroughly tested on the Danish and Dutch continental shelves.

“This new concept has been required to meet the high safety standards established for installations on the Norwegian continental shelf,” Rod says.

Aiming to cut investment costs throughout the engineering phase Statoil has reduced the break-even price of the project by about 30% thanks to low capital expenditure and higher recovery rates. This makes the project resilient, even in a low oil price environment, it said.

The wells at Oseberg Vestflanken 2 will be drilled by the new category J rig, Askepott, which is now being built. It is owned by the Oseberg licence.

Helping extend the life of the Oseberg field the project is an important contribution to Statoil’s ambition of sustaining production on the NCS at the current level to 2030, and beyond. Oseberg Vestflanken 2 is the first of three planned phases for developing the remaining reserves in the Oseberg area.

Field partners are Statoil (49.3%), state Petoro (33.6%), French Total (14.7%) and US ConocoPhillips (2.4%). First oil is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.

William Powell