The move comes after the award of a three-year extension for the Rosebank licences by the UK Oil and Gas Authority

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Image: Photo courtesy of Equinor ASA.

Equinor has announced that it will take a final investment decision on the Rosebank project on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) by May 2022.

The move comes after the award of a three-year extension for the Rosebank licences by the UK Oil and Gas Authority.

The company has secured an extension for a period of three years has been awarded for licences P1026, P1191 and P1272.

Equinor UK and Ireland offshore senior vice president Hedda Felin said: “We believe there is more value to capture in Rosebank including the opportunity to reduce development cost.

“There are similarities with other recent projects in Equinor’s portfolio, such as Johan Castberg and Bay du Nord, where we have made significant improvements to the concept approach, particularly in how we design and plan new developments in harsh environments, but also through the application of digitalisation.”

The company said that a team for the Rosebank project has been set up and technical and strategic work and studies are being undertaken.

Rosebank project details

Discovered in 2004, the Rosebank field is located about 130km northwest of the Shetland Islands in water depths of approximately 1,110m.

Equinor holds a operating stake of 40% in the field, while its partnes Suncor Energy and Siccar Point Energy own stakes of 40% and 20%, respectively.

In January, Equinor completed acquisition of 40% operated interest of California-based Energy Company Chevron in the project. The proposal for the transaction was announced in October 2018.

In August 2013, under its former name Statoil, Equinor had sold its 30% stakes in the Rosebank field to Austrian oil and gas company OMV in a $2.65bn transaction, which also included a 5.88% interest in the Schiehallion field.

Three years later, OMV sold 30% of its stake to Suncor Energy for $215m. In November 2016, Siccar Point Energy acquired OMV (U.K.) and with that its then parent company OMV’s remaining 20% stake in the project.