The start-up of the Valhall West Flank facility in the North Sea has been approved by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The facility is a further development of Valhall field in the southern part of the Norwegian Continental Shelf, 290 km offshore.
Aker BP ASA plans start up of West Flank this fall. Tied to Valhall field center, the facility is an unmanned facility with 12 well slots.
Reserves are estimated at 9.6 million standard cu m of oil equivalent (60 million bbl). The estimate is a median value, the NPD said, and indicates some uncertainty regarding how much can be recovered.
A plan for development and operation for Valhall Flank West was approved in 2018 with an investment estimate of 5.4 billion kroner.
Valhall produces oil from chalk in the Upper Cretaceous Hod and Tor formations. Reservoir depth is 2,400 m. The Tor formation chalk is fine-grained and has good reservoir quality. Considerable fracturing allows oil and water to flow more easily than in the underlying Hod formation. Oil and natural gas liquids are routed via pipeline to Ekofisk field and further to Teesside. Gas is sent via Norpipe to Emden in Germany.
Aker BP is operator of Valhall with 90%. Pandion Energy AS holds the remaining interest.
