Vilje southern extension, offshore Norway, set for development

The Vilje partners plan a 1.1 billion kroner development of Vilje South, an extension of the main Vilje field.

Vilje is on Block 25/4 in the North Sea, production license 036D, 12 km north of Heimdal field in 120 m of water. Development of the southern extension was included in the original Vilje plan for development and operation.

The Vilje South development will include a standard subsea template with one well, tied back to the existing seabed structure on Vilje, which is tied back 19 km to the Marathon-operated Alvheim floating production, storage, and offloading vessel that also handles production from Kamelon (Block 24/6-2), Boa (Block 24/6-4), and Kneler (Block 25/4-7).

Statoil estimates the Vilje South, discovered in 2004, holds 7.6 million boe of recoverable reserves, mainly crude.

The company expects the extension to be on stream in 2013.

The Vilje template is under construction by Aker for installation in summer 2013, together with the rest of the subsea equipment. Estimated net oil production in 2014 from Vilje South is 5,000 b/d.

Statoil said the project is the smallest in its fast-track field development portfolio and the sixth fast-track investment decision made in 2011, leaving only a decision on Visund North to be made by yearend.

It noted that it has removed both the Snorre B template and Mikkel South from its fast-track portfolio. Snorre B because of adjustments to the plan for extending Snorre area production to 2040, and Mikkel South because of capacity limits in the Asgard transport gas pipeline.

New projects added to the portfolio are Fram H North and Svalin C.

Plans call for the first five fast-track projects to be brought on stream by yearend 2012 or in early 2013.

Operator Statoil holds a 28.5% interest in Vilje South. Partners are Marathon Petroleum Norge AS 49.9% and Total E&P Norge AS 24.24%.