FPSO sets its sails toward North Sea project with oil production extension to 2045 in mind

Norwegian oil and gas player Vår Energi has confirmed the tow-out of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel from the Worley Rosenberg yard to a field in the North Sea off the coast of Norway. This revamped unit is part of the firm’s plan to ramp up production to exceed 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd) while extending the lifetime of an existing asset to 2045 and potentially even beyond.

The FPSO Jotun’s sail-away is on schedule for production from Balder X to start by the end of the second quarter of 2025. The tow-out program for the FPSO from Worley Rosenberg yard in Stavanger includes several stages. The FPSO vessel will perform inclination tests at the quayside before being towed to Åmøyfjorden, near Stavanger, for inshore sea trials and anchor installation work.

Afterward, the unit will be towed to the field for installation, hook-up to the installed subsea production systems, and final commissioning. Once all 14 wells are completed, production is planned to start by the end of the second quarter of 2025, with an expected 3-4 month ramp-up period before hitting peak production. Vår Energi sanctioned Balder Phase V in the fourth quarter of 2024, targeting start-up in late 2025.

The firm made six discoveries in 2024, including two in the fourth quarter, with a nearly 50% exploration success rate for the year. In a bid to up its hydrocarbon production, the firm decided to kick off drilling activities in the first half of 2025 and finish them in 2026.

Nick Walker, CEO of Vår Energi, commented: “As one of the fastest growing oil and gas companies globally, we are set for transformative growth in 2025, and are on track to reach above 400 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd) in the fourth quarter. Balder X is a key element to this plan and once the Jotun FPSO comes on stream, production from the field will be close to quadrupled, adding around 80 kboepd gross at peak.

“Balder X, with a payback time of around two years, including the sanctioned Balder Phase V project, marks the start of a new era in the North Sea, extending the lifetime of the first production licence PL001 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to 2045 and beyond, and opens a wide potential for continued value creation.”

The first new wells are slated to come on stream by the end of 2025 via subsea tie-back to the FPSO Jotun. The Balder field is operated by Vår Energi (90%) with Kistos Energy Norway as its partner (10%). The firm’s Balder X project, targeting a start-up in Q2 2025, is set to recover around 200 million barrels of additional reserves from the Balder-Ringhorne area, where the production lifetime is being prolonged to 2045, as part of the Balder Future re-development project in the North Sea.

Furthermore, the Balder X project will develop gross proved plus probable (2P) reserves of 150 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), with the FPSO Jotun installed as an area host, allowing Vår Energi to take necessary steps to add new production through infill drilling, exploration, and tie-back developments with a short time to market.

Torger Rød, COO of Vår Energi, explained: “We have continued to grow our resource base through successful exploration in the area and are stepping up the pace, moving several tie-back projects forward at speed to capitalise on the Jotun FPSO.

“This will sustain production longer term and includes Balder Phase V, planned to come on stream later this year, and Balder Phase VI expected to be sanctioned in 2025, together adding a further 45-50 mmboe gross.”

The Norwegian firm highlights many new early phase projects that are being progressed toward final investment decisions (FIDs) in the Greater Balder area, including Ringhorne North, Balder Future phases, and the King discovery, targeting gross contingent resources of over 70 mmboe. In addition, further exploration drilling is planned to unlock more hydrocarbon resources.

Moreover, Vår Energi claims that the FPSO Jotun also creates an opportunity to optimize the infrastructure in the area, including taking the Balder floating production unit (FPU) to shore for decommissioning and the planned electrification of the Balder/Grane area, cutting production costs and carbon emissions.