Johan Castberg partners increase project cost by $1.2 billion

The Johan Castberg partnership increased the project’s investment estimate by almost NOK 13 billion ($1.2 billion) since last year but plans for fourth-quarter 2024 production start from the Barents Sea project remain unchanged, operator Equinor Energy AS said in a release Sept. 19.

The updated project cost estimate is now NOK 80 billion, up from NOK 57 billion when the original plan for development and operation (PDO) was submitted in 2017 (OGJ Online, Dec. 11, 2017).

A tighter supplier market and an increased work scope in Norway following the FPSO hull mobilization from Singapore to Stord last year are cited as reasons for the increase.

Johan Castberg field lies about 100 km north of Snøhvit field in 370 m of water. The resource base for developing the field consists of the three oil discoveries—Skrugard, Havis, and Drivis, all in production license 532, and all of which will be developed through an FPSO designed to produce about 190,000 b/d. Additional subsea solutions include 18 horizontal production wells and 12 injection wells. The field is expected to produce for 30 years.

Recoverable resources are estimated at 450-650 MMboe.

Equinor is operator of the project with 50% interest. License partners are Vår Energi (30%) and Petoro (20%).