Final Investment Decision Made to Develop Norway’s Brasse Oil Field

DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, on Monday announced that a final investment decision has been made for the development of the Brasse field, to be renamed Bestla, based on a tie-back to the nearby production facilities of the Brage field.

Bestla (PL740), located in the northern North Sea, is estimated to contain 24 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) in recoverable reserves and is expected to come on stream as early as the first half of 2027, subject to government approval of a plan for development and operation (PDO) to be submitted later this month.

In addition to DNO Norge AS (39.3%), the Bestla partnership includes OKEA ASA (39.3%) as operator, Lime Petroleum AS (17%) and M Vest Energy AS (4.4%). All four companies are partners in Brage (DNO 14.2567%) which is also operated by OKEA; this alignment of interests and a common operator have helped speed up studies and decisions on the best way forward.

Discovered in 2016 and appraised by five wells in 2017-2019, Bestla will be developed with a two-well subsea tie-back to the Brage platform located at a distance of 13 km. Brage will serve as the host facility for production, processing, and export.

As DNO continues to build its North Sea portfolio, Bestla is projected to add an estimated 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day on a net basis to the Company at peak production. Longer term, Bestla will extend the commercial viability of the Brage facilities, allowing DNO and partners to squeeze more oil and gas out of Brage which has been in production since 1993.

Two More Fields

DNO has two other new fields under development offshore Norway, namely Andvare (32%) and Berling (30%). Separately, the company is maturing a string of recent North Sea discoveries towards development.

In 2023, DNO was the third most active exploration driller on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and ranked second in discovered volumes with an estimated 100 MMboe net to the company. DNO has prioritised near-infrastructure exploration in areas with clear routes to commercialisation of discoveries and has been an early mover in acquiring substantial acreage positions in selected areas which have since become exploration hotspots.