Three production licences in the Hydro-operated Oseberg area of the North Sea have been extended to 1 March 2031. This means greater optimization of production in the area, says Øystein Michelsen, who is head of Hydros Oseberg business area.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has approved Hydro’s application for extension and harmonization of licences in the Oseberg area.
“The extension gives us a more predictable situation, and will be significant for partners’ investment in the area in the future. This means that we will be better able to optimize production from the Oseberg fields and the phasing in of additional resources. This is also a step towards a new joint unit for the whole Oseberg area,” says Michelsen.
The approval applies to three production licences 053, 079 and 104, which would have expired in 2017, 2018 and 2025 respectively. The duration of these licences now coincides with production licence 171B, which expires on 1 March 2031.
The production licences cover the Oseberg Unit, Oseberg Sør and most of the Oseberg Øst field.
Coordinated ownership
The Oseberg partners also received support for their view that establishing a single large unit with coordinated licence ownership would be positive for the development of the area.
The approval is subject to the condition that the partners enter into an agreement on coordinated activities in the licences. It is also assumed that the companies will take active steps to promote solutions that “will optimize the management of resources in the area in the long-term perspective, including further measures to increase production from the Oseberg area”.
Michelsen adds that that the companies with ownership interests in the Oseberg area have already started work on a unification agreement for all the production licences in the area.