Equinor and its partners have submitted a proposed environmental impact assessment (EIA) programme for the potential development of the Wisting oilfield.
The EIA is now open for public consultation for a period of 16 weeks.
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Located in the Barents Sea, Wisting is cited as the largest undeveloped oil discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).
The project remains in the early stages, with further progress dependent on achieving a profitable and viable outcome.
Wisting’s recoverable volume is estimated at just under 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe). The oil discovery, which was proven in 2013, is located 300km off Norway’s northern coast.
Transactions between Equinor and Aker BP pertaining to the licence are currently awaiting government approval. After that, ownership of Wisting will comprise Equinor Energy (42.5%), Aker BP (27.5%), Petoro (20%) and INPEX Idemitsu Norge (10%).
The development partnership has identified a floating production and storage vessel (FPSO) as the selected solution for Wisting.
The partners are also continuing to assess the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from production.
Implementing CCS would require the right technological and regulatory framework at a reasonable cost and within appropriate time frames.
Further sub-studies and detailed project definition work are ongoing.
Equinor project development senior vice-president Trond Bokn said: “We have made significant improvements to Wisting since the postponement in 2022, but considerable work remains before we can determine whether there is a basis for a final investment decision [FID].
“Power from shore has been thoroughly assessed but was ruled out due to technical complexity and high costs. We are now continuing our work on power generation based on an energy-efficient gas turbine solution.”
The partnership plans to decide on the final concept and any further development steps by the end of 2026.
An FID is anticipated by late 2027.
Any solutions for the project will have to meet safety and efficiency requirements suitable for operations in the Barents Sea.
According to Equinor, drilling, wells and subsea elements represent approximately half of the total investment required for Wisting.
The construction of the hull for the FPSO will not take place at Norwegian yards due to size and infrastructure constraints, but Norwegian suppliers will have opportunities in other aspects of the project.
