Norwegian continental shelf producer Vår Energi ASA has narrowed its output forecast for 2025 due to “operational challenges” at the Balder field in the North Sea and the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.
“At Johan Castberg, some issues with the offloading hose have led to periods of reduced production in November and again now in December”, Vår Energi, majority-owned by Italy’s state-controlled Eni SpA, said in a statement on its website.
“In the Balder area, there is recently experienced reduced production at the Jotun FPSO [floating production, storage and offloading vessel] caused by operational interruptions following the just started up Balder Phase V project tied-in to the FPSO.
“Both the Johan Castberg and Balder fields are expected back at plateau production by the end of December”.
The Jotun FPSO, which started production June, has a declared gross capacity of over 80,000 boed. Vår Energi is operator with a 90 percent stake.
Johan Castberg, put onstream March, has a gross peak production of 220,000 barrels of oil per day, according to the owners. Vår Energi owns 30 percent of the Equinor ASA-operated Johan Castberg.
Vår Energi now expects to average 330,000-335,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed) this year. Its previous guidance was 330,000-360,000 boed.
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