Production from Var Energi’s mature Balder X oil and gas field to begin in 2025 following delays
(Bloomberg) – Var Energi ASA, Norway’s third-biggest oil and gas company, said the floating production, storage and offloading vessel due to extend the life of one of the country’s oldest fields won’t start producing until next year.
Production from the Balder X project will now start in the second quarter of 2025, rather than the fourth quarter of this year, the company said Wednesday. The latest delay — preventing the installation of the Jotun FPSO before the winter weather period — will result in an additional pretax cost of about $400 million, Var said.
Var’s Balder X project — extending production to 2045 — includes vessel upgrades, as well as new production and water injection wells. It had already suffered from delays associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, bad weather that complicated drilling, as well as inflation driving up the price of services.
The Balder field falls within production license 001, the first granted by the Norwegian government in 1965.
Var pumped 293,000 boed in the first half, toward the upper end of its target range, and is on track to produce 400,000 bpd by the end of next year. The guidance won’t be impacted by the Balder X delays, said Var, which is majority-owned by Italy’s Eni SpA.
Var agreed a year ago to acquire the Neptune assets in a deal valued at $2.28 billion. This helped the company boost supply as European demand surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It also owns a 30% stake in the Johan Castberg oil field in the Barents Sea, which is due to go into production at the end of this year.
