Norway’s state-owned energy player Equinor has received the green light from Norwegian authorities for its planned activities in the Norwegian Sea.
The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has given Equinor consent for the start-up and use of Verdande at the Norne field in the Norwegian Sea, 80 kilometers north of the Heidrun field.
Norne, situated in a water depth of 380 meters, was discovered in 1992. After the plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 1995, the field was developed with a production, storage, and offloading vessel (FPSO), connected to seven subsea templates.
The hydrocarbon production with the FPSO Norne began in 1997. Equinor secured the all-clear signal for the Verdande subsea development at the end of 2022. As a result, the company started setting the stage to connect the project to the FPSO Norne .
Last year, the Norwegian giant began drilling operations at the Verdande subsea field with the Transocean Encourage rig, which was booked for a nine-well contract with six more optional wells.
Verdande is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2025. When it was announced, the project was estimated to require investments of about NOK 5 billion (around $447.61 million) to provide oil replenishment for the FPSO Norne.
Located around 300 kilometers southwest of the city of Bodø in North Norway, the project entails the Cape Vulture and Alve North-East discoveries, proven in 2017 and 2020, respectively. While oil will be lifted by a tanker, gas will be piped via Åsgard Transport to Kårstø.
With recoverable resources estimated at around 36 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), the CO2 intensity of this development is calculated at 1.6 kg CO2 per barrel of oil equivalent.
Equinor is the operator of the Verdande license with a 59.3% interest. The company’s partners are Petoro (22.4%), Vår Energi (10.5%), Aker BP (7%), and PGNIG Upstream Norway (0.8%).
The Norwegian state-owned player is actively working on augmenting its oil and gas arsenal, as illustrated by its recent start-up of production at a subsea field in the Barents Sea, with gas transported to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Melkøya for processing.