Equinor’s Breidablikk field starts production four months early

Equinor has announced production from the Breidablikk field in the North Sea began on October 20, four months ahead of schedule.

Discovered in 1992, Breidablikk is located in the central part of the North Sea, ten kilometres northeast of Grane, in 130 metres of water.

Tied back to the Grane platform, the subsea field holds almost 200 million barrels of recoverable oil.

The oil from Breidablikk will be processed on Grane and sent ashore by pipeline to the Sture terminal in Øygarden.

© Photo: Elisabeth Sahl - Jonny Engelsvoll / Equinor

Equinor executive vice president for projects, drilling and procurement Geir Tungesvik said the project was within budget and had higher initial production than expected.

“The project is highly profitable, provides important volumes to the market, and will create great value for Norwegian society and the owners,” Mr Tungesvik said.

“Nearly five million working hours have gone into the project.”

Equinor said production from Breidablikk was scheduled to start in the first half of 2024, with predrilling and completion of five wells.

Eight wells have already been drilled, and Equinor said the drilling of additional wells will continue on the field until the end of 2025.

Breidablikk is being developed with 22 subsea wells drilled from four templates and investments in the project are expected to be just over NOK 21 billion (£1.57 billion).

Equinor installed pipelines and cables between the subsea facility and the Grane platform, which it modified to receive the well stream.

Equinor executive vice president for exploration and production Norway Kjetil Hove said at peak, Breidablikk is expected to send up to 55-60,000 barrels of oil to the market daily, mainly to Europe.

“Breidablikk can help to extend the productive life and the approximately 1000 jobs associated with the operation of the Grane field towards 2060,” Mr Hove said.

Equinor hold as 39% stake in the Breidablikk field as the operator, alongside Vår Energi ASA (34.4%), Petoro (22.2%) and ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS (4.4%).