The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has sanctioned the plan for development and operation (PDO) of Oseberg Vestflanken 2.

Reserves projected at 110 million barrels of oil equivalent the investments are estimated at NOK 8.2 billion (2015).

The Oseberg Vestflanken 2 development consists of an unmanned wellhead platform with ten well slots. In addition two existing subsea wells will be reused. All wells will be remote-controlled from Oseberg field centre.

“Oseberg Vestflanken 2 is a pioneer project of great strategic importance,” says Torger Rød, Statoil’s senior vice president for project management.

The project is a pilot that other operators, public authorities and the rest of Statoil’s project portfolio are already learning from. The concept is new in Norway, but has been thoroughly tested on the Danish and Dutch continental shelves.

“This new concept has been required to meet the high safety standards established for installations on the Norwegian continental shelf,” Rød says.

Statoil said it has reduced the break-even price of the project by about 30 percent thanks to reduced CAPEX and successful maturing of the resource base, thus increasing volumes.

The wells at Oseberg Vestflanken 2 will be drilled by the new category J rig Askepott, which is currently under construction. It is owned by the Oseberg licence.

“It is gratifying that the strategies established for the procurement of Oseberg’s licence rig is now being realised through a profitable project, optimally utilising the existing infrastructure,” says Gunnar Nakken, Statoil’s senior vice president, Operations West.

Oseberg Vestflanken 2 is the first of three planned phases for developing the remaining reserves in the Oseberg area.

“Joint optimism among the Oseberg partners about the future of the Oseberg area is at the bottom of this,” Nakken concludes.