Statoil has agreed to acquire Wintershall Norge’s 25% interest in the 11 MMboe recoverable Byrding project on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
The move will increase Statoil's interest in the project (previously called Astero) from 45% to 70%. Byrding (PL090B) is an oil and gas discovery in the northern part of the North Sea, near the Troll/Fram area, operated by Statoil.
The Byrding development includes a duo-lateral well drilled from the existing Fram H-Nord subsea template, through which oil and gas from Byrding will flow to the Troll C semisubmersible production facility. Oil and gas will be piped from there through existing pipelines to Mongstad and Kollsnes respectively.
In August, Statoil and its partners submitted a plan for development and operation for Byrding. Originally a US$420 million (NOK3.5 billion) project, costs have been cut to $120 million (NOK 1 billion). The field is scheduled to come on stream in Q3 the 2017.
“Byrding is a low cost project that is profitable in the current oil price environment. Through this transaction, we further deepen our position in a core area for Statoil,” says Gunnar Nakken, Statoil’s senior vice president for Operations West.
The agreement is a further acquisition by Statoil in core areas, following an increase in the Wisting discovery in the Hoop area of the Barents Sea in September and transactions for the Utgard field near Sleipner in the North Sea during 2015 and 2016.