Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) has approved ExxonMobil’s handover of its operated fields on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) to Point Resources.
The decision gives Point consent to use facilities at the Balder, Ringhorne, Ringhorne Øst and Jotun. PSA said that a change of operator requires an application for consent to use the facilities, as consent is an expression of the PSA's confidence that the operating company is able to assume responsibility for operations in a proper manner and in compliance with the regulations.
Balder is an oil field in the central North Sea in approximately 125 m of water. The field has been developed using subsea wells tied to a production and storage vessel, the Balder floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The plan for development and operation (PDO) for Balder was approved in 1996 and production began in 1999.
Part of the Balder field, Ringhorne lies nine km north of Balder FPSO, and has been developed using a combined accommodation, drilling and wellhead facility. The Ringhorne facility is tied to the Balder vessel and the Jotun vessel for processing, crude oil storage and gas export. Production from Ringhorne began in 2003.
Ringhorne Øst is an oilfield located north-east of Balder in the central North Sea in approximately 130m of water. The PDO for Ringhorne Øst was approved in 2005. The field is tied to the Ringhorne facility and began production in 2006. The field has been developed using four production wells drilled from the Ringhorne facility at Balder.
The Jotun Jotun oilfield lies 25 kilometres north of Balder in the central North Sea in 126m of water. The field was developed by means of Jotun A, a combined FPSO, and the Jotun B wellhead facility. Production began in 1999 and continued until the end of 2016. Jotun B is scheduled be removed by 2019. Jotun A will continue to be used by Balder, Ringhorne and Ringhorne Øst, until these fields stop producing. Jotun A is to be removed by 2023.
ExxonMobil announced in March it would sell its Norwegian business to newcomer Point. Production from the assets in 2016 totaled approximately 60,000 boe/d, 54,000 boe/d of which came from the ExxonMobil-operated fields. Point said the deal would make it one of the top independent oil and gas producers on the NCS.
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