Production from the Breidablikk field in the North Sea began Oct. 20 and is four months ahead of schedule and within budget, Equinor announced in a press release the same day.
The subsea field is located northeast to the Grane platform and holds nearly 200 MMbbl of recoverable oil. The field is being developed with 22 subsea wells drilled from four templates, with pipelines and cables installed connecting the subsea facility to the Grane platform, according to the release.
The oil from Breidablikk is processed at Equinor’s Grane platform and will account for approximately 15% of exports from Sture in the years ahead, according to the company.
Operations were originally scheduled to begin the first half of 2024, however the company states that eight wells have already been drilled and drilling of the additional wells is expected to continue until end of 2025.
“Breidablikk can help to extend the productive life and the approximately 1000 jobs associated with the operation of the Grane field towards 2060, says Kjetil Hove, Equinor's executive vice president for E&P Norway in the release. “At peak, Breidablikk is expected to send up to 55-60,000 barrels of oil to the market daily, mainly to Europe.”
Partners on the field’s production include Equinor, as operator (39%), Petoro (22.2%), Vår Energi (34.4%) and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia (4.4%).