Gråsel oil project brought on stream by Aker BP and partners

Aker BP and its partners have started production from the NOK 1.2 billion ($138.36 million) Gråsel oil project in the Skarv licence in the Norwegian Sea through the existing Skarv floating production, storage and offloading vessel (Skarv FPSO).

The Gråsel field has been brought into production four months ahead of its original schedule of Q4 2021. The final investment decision to develop the Gråsel discovery was made in December 2020.

Aker BP’s partners in the Skarv area are Equinor, Wintershall Dea, and PGNiG.

Aker BP CEO comments on the start of production at the Gråsel oil project

Karl Johnny Hersvik – Aker BP CEO, commenting on the Gråsel oil project, said: “I’m incredibly proud of the project team and our licence partners: Only six months have passed since the joint venture approved the investment decision to develop Gråsel. This must be one of the fastest project implementations ever on the Norwegian shelf.

“Together, we have once again completed a profitable project safely, efficiently and within budget – and on top of all that – much faster than planned when the project started.”

The Gråsel oil project produces through the Skarv FPSO. Photo courtesy of Aker BP.

The Gråsel reservoir is located above the Skarv reservoir, nearly 210km west of Sandnessjøen. The Gråsel oil field contains approximately 13 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Development of the Gråsel oil project involved the drilling of a new producer well from an existing well slot on the Skarv field, with pressure support provided by a shared injector for Gråsel and Tilje.

Commenting on the Gråsel oil project, Ine Dolve – SVP Operations and Asset Development at Aker BP said: “The development solution is based on re-use of existing infrastructure. That has helped make Gråsel an extremely robust project, both technically and commercially, and with a break-even price of around 15 dollars per barrel.

“The stimulus package adopted by the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) last June, which entails more rapid tax depreciations, contributed to make the project even more robust and has accelerated the timeline.”

Aker BP is the operator of the Skarv licence and has a stake of 23.8%. Equinor Energy has a stake of 36.2%, Wintershall Dea Norge has a 28.1% stake, while PGNiG Upstream Norway holds the remaining 11.9% in the offshore Norwegian licence.