Progress stalls on area-wide North Sea field development

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway — Longboat Energy has expressed frustration about the slow progress in advancing the Kveikje discovery in the Norwegian North Sea to development.

The company, which has a 10% interest via its Longboat JAPEX joint venture (JV), said the various partners in licenses in the area hold diverging views on the best offtake solution.

This has led to Norway’s regulator SoDir stepping in to move forward development plans for Kveikje and numerous other nearby discoveries, with combined resources estimated at about 350 MMboe.

Longboat also commented on the performance of the Equinor-operated Statfjord Satellites in which the JV has a 4.80% unitized interest. Production from January through April averaged 401 boe/d. The underperformance is due to issues associated with well completions on Statfjord Øst, which have left two of the five redevelopment wells drilled last year still offline.

Equinor hopes to rectify the problems over the next few months using an offshore vessel. However, it has acknowledged that the gross capex budget for Statfjord Øst this year has had to double to almost NOK 685 million (US$64.8 million), following a 25% increase of NOK586 million (US$55.4 million) in 2023.

A few miles to the north of Kvejke, the JV is a partner in the Kjøttkake exploration well, which is set to spud during the fourth quarter. The prospect could hold 27 MMboe; the key risk is hydrocarbon retention.

Offshore Sarawak on the Longboat operated Block 2A, mapping of the giant Kertang prospect is nearly complete, as the partners seek to identify an optimal well location to test the multiple prospective horizons.

A drilling decision should follow in late 2024 or early 2025.

The company has commissioned ERCE to conduct a competent persons report to confirm the potential size and risk associated with Kertang, potentially one of Malaysia’s largest undrilled structures.

Two other areas of interest on the block have been delineated. One surrounds Kertang, where various large analogous structural have been mapped. The other is in shallow water in the southwest of the block, where there is a continuation of a play that has brought recent gas discoveries in younger, shallower horizons to the south of 2A.

Various companies have approached concerning Block 2A, and the company plans to open a farm-out process later this year.

05.29.2024