Spirit gets life extension for North Sea field

Oil and gas company Spirit Energy has received approval from Norwegian authorities for a life extension of its Vale gas field located offshore Norway.

New technology, new operating methodologies, and measures that allow more oil and gas to be recovered than originally planned mean that the licensees often wish to continue using the old facilities even after they have reached their age limit.

In order to recover the remaining reserves on the Vale field, Spirit Energy has applied for consent to extend the life of the field.

Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) this week gave Spirit Energy consent to use the facilities on the Vale field beyond their original lifespan. The field’s life has now been extended to 11 June 2023.

The safety authority explained that the consent has been given on the basis of Spirit Energy’s documentation of assessments which conclude that the facilities can continue to be operated safely and in accordance with the regulations.

The Spirit Energy-operated Vale field is located in the Central North Sea, 16 kilometres north of the Equinor-operated Heimdal field. Discovered in 1991, the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 2001.

The field was developed with a subsea template including one horizontal production well with a single sidetrack, tied back to the Heimdal Gas Center platform by a 16.5-kilometre long pipeline.

The first production from the field started in May 2002 and Vale, which produces both gas and condensate, had an expected field life of 2021/22.

The gas is transported via Vesterled to St Fergus in the UK and condensate is transported by pipeline to the Brae field in the UK sector and further to Cruden Bay.

Spirit Energy is the operator of the Vale field with a 50 per cent interest and its partners are Lotos E&P with 25.757 per cent interest and PGNiG Upstream Norway with the remaining 24.243 per cent interest.