Mime Petroleum works to strengthen liquidity ahead of Balder Future project

Independent development and production company Mime Petroleum has issued a NOK 300 million ($32.2M) senior unsecured bond with maturity in February 2025 ahead of the Vår Energi-operated Balder Future project in the North Sea.

Vår Energi is the operator of the Balder Future project with a 90 per cent ownership interest, while Mime Petroleum is the only partner and it has a 10 per cent ownership interest.

Mime said that the bond issue was completed on February 7, 2020. The company added that this would optimize its capital structure and strengthen its liquidity position ahead of the Balder Future project in the North Sea.

The Balder Future project includes the refurbishment of the Jotun FPSO, new subsea production systems and 14 new wells with a total investment of NOK 19.6 billion ($2.16 billion).

The redevelopment will unlock an additional 136 million boe and production is planned to commence in the autumn of 2022. The field is expected to produce up to 2045.

Vår Energi submitted the PDO for the Balder Future project in December 2019. The project is expected to prolong the production lifetime of the Balder and Ringhorne fields’ production lifetime to 2045.

All these activities will take place while ordinary production continues at the Balder and Ringhorne fields.

The Balder field is located in production license PL 001 – the very first license on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).

Also, Vår Energi awarded an EPCI contract to Rosenberg Worley in for the lifetime extension of the Jotun A FPSO earlier this year. Also, Baker Hughes and Ocean Installer will engineer, procure, construct and install new subsea production systems (SPS), umbilicals, risers, and flowlines for the FPSO.

The Jotun A FPSO will be brought to shore mid-2020 for its upgrade and life extension. During the summer of 2022, the vessel will be reinstalled in the area between the Balder and Ringhorne fields.