Balder Oil Field
Summary Information Operator: Exxon Country: Norway Location: North Sea approximately 190 km Northwest of Stavanger Production start: 1999 Partners: Type: Oil Estimated Reserves: 71.3 million Sm³ oil - 17.3 million Sm³ oil 1.6 billion Sm³ gas - 0.3 billion Sm³ gas Production Volume: Oil: 42 000 barrels/day Gas: 0.05 billion Sm³ Description The Balder field consists of a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO) and several subsea production systems. It is located in the North Sea approximately 190 km Northwest of Stavanger. The Ringhorne discovery, included in the Balder field, is developed with a combined accommodation, drilling and wellhead facility, tied back to the Balder FPSO The Ringhorne facility is tied to the Balder and Jotun A FPSO for processing, crude oil storage and gas export. The oil is transported by tankers. Excess gas from Balder is routed to Jotun for gas export. Jotun exports Ringhorne and Balder gas to Statpipe Gas Pipeline. In periods with reduced gas export, excess gas may be injected into the Balder reservoir. Contractors Smedvig: FPSO vessel construction ABB Group: Subsea facilities Coflexip Stena Offshore: Subsea installation Smit Maritime Contractors: Marine installation Emtunga: Living Quarter Extension Ringhorne - Living Quarter Module and Helideck History 1965 - Licence awarded 1974 - Oil discovered in Balder 1996 - Plan for Development and Operations (PDO) approved by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy 1999 - First oil produced Geology The field contains several separate oil deposits in Eocene, Paleocene and Jurassic sandstones. The reservoirs in the Rogaland Group belong to the Heimdal, Hermod and Ty Formations, and the reservoirs in the Brent Group belong to the Statfjord Formation. Top reservoirs are at a depth of about 1 700 metres.
