Equinor and partners ready Breidablikk field for development

Equinor and partners Petoro, Vår Energi and ConocoPhillips have decided to develop the Breidablikk field in the North Sea.

Today the partnership will submit the plan for development and operation to the Minister of Petroleum and Energy, in addition to awarding contracts for subsea facilities and upgrading of the Grane platform.

The expected production from the field is about 200 million barrels, investments totalling about NOK 18.6 billion.

“The Breidablikk field is one of the largest undeveloped oil discoveries on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). Field development will create substantial value for the Norwegian society and the owners. We are also pleased to award two key contracts today at a total value of NOK 3.3 billion, including options. The contracts will contribute to important activity for the supply industry and secure jobs for many years,” says Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s acting executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling.

The development concept chosen for the Breidablikk field is subsea development with 23 oil producing wells from four subsea templates that are controlled from Grane. Breidablikk will be tied in to the Grane platform for oil processing prior to being brought ashore at the Sture terminal. The production from Grane will be monitored with advanced digital tools from Equinor's integrated operations centre (IOC) at Sandsli to ensure optimal production and value creation from the wells.

“I am pleased that we together with our partners have matured the Breidablikk field to development. Breidablikk shows how the industry’s combined competencies create high value and returns from a world-class infrastructure on the NCS,” says Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Development and Production Norway

“Breidablikk will contribute significantly to maintaining profitable production in one of our core areas on the NCS,” Nylund adds.

The Breidablikk development will include a control cable system for electricity and communication (DC/FO). This is a relatively new technology that can reduce the costs associated with further development of the field, in addition to facilitating the use of docking stations for subsea drones on the seabed. The phase-in of Breidablikk will reduce the CO2 intensity on the Grane field.

First oil from the field is scheduled for the first half of 2024.