OKEA sees no viable option for North Sea multi-field project

Offshore staff

TRONDHEIM, Norway – OKEA has decided against developing the Vette discovery in the Norwegian North Sea, citing issues with the project’s economics.

The Norwegian independent, which assumed operatorship of the PL 972 Vette license earlier this year, will recommend discontinuing studies to its partners ONE-Dyas Norge and M Vest Energy.

OKEA has targeted a joint phased development of Vette with the nearby Grevling/Storskrymten discoveries. But despite reducing the break-even cost, results to date do not justify a standalone field development, the company said, so further work on the other two structures will also likely be halted.

Grevling is in license PL038 D: the other partners are Chrysaor Norge and Petoro. OKEA also operates Storskrymten in PL974, where the sole partner is Chrysaor.

CEO Svein Liknes said: “With the start-up of the Yme field in the second half of 2021 and energy prices at multi-year highs, OKEA has a strong cash balance which we aim to deploy where we can add the greatest value.

“We see several attractive opportunities on the NCS [Norwegian continental shelf] with significant upside potential. Therefore, we believe there are other investments that will provide greater near-term value creation…”

10/12/2021