Balder
North Sea · Oil · Producing · Operator Vår Energi ASA
Balder is an oil field in the North Sea operated by Vår Energi ASA, discovered in 1967 by wellbore 25/11-1. The Norwegian Offshore Directorate lists it as producing.
In the 12 months reported through August 2026 it sold 4.55 million Sm³ of oil equivalents (4.38 million Sm³ of oil, 0.17 billion Sm³ of gas), up 151% on the 12 months before.
Since May 1991 it has reported 84.3 million Sm³ of oil equivalents: 82.3 million Sm³ of oil and 2 billion Sm³ of gas.
2 companies hold it; the largest share is Vår Energi ASA with 90%.
173 wellbores are on file for the field.
- 4.55
- mill Sm³ o.e., last 12 reported +151%
- 4.38
- mill Sm³ oil, last 12
- 0.17
- bill Sm³ gas, last 12
- 84.3
- mill Sm³ o.e. since May 1991
- 173
- wellbores on file
- 2
- licensees today
SODIR PRODUCTION PROFILES · SALEABLE VOLUMES · REPORTED THROUGH AUG 2026
Oil by month
TEN YEARS · SM³ SOLD
Last 12 months 4,379,463 · prior 12 1,805,380(+143%)
Gas by month
TEN YEARS · SM³ SOLD
Last 12 months 171,036,000 · prior 12 8,135,000(+2002%)
Produced water by month
TEN YEARS · SM³ IN THE FIELD
Last 12 months 6,842,559 · prior 12 5,685,953(+20%)
Licensees
SHARES TODAY · LICENCE 001
| Company | Share | Since |
|---|---|---|
| Vår Energi ASAOPERATOR | 90% | Jun 10, 2023 |
| Kistos Energy (Norway) AS | 10% | Jun 10, 2023 |
Production licence 001: ownership history and register messages →
Reserves
THE DIRECTORATE'S ESTIMATE · AS OF DEC 31, 2025
These are the Norwegian Offshore Directorate's own year-end estimates, shown as it publishes them. Petrora does not estimate reserves.
| Oil, mill Sm³ | Gas, bill Sm³ | NGL, mill tonnes | Condensate, mill Sm³ | O.e., mill Sm³ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Originally recoverable | 112.4 | 3.64 | 0 | 0 | 116 |
| Remaining | 32.5 | 1.61 | 0 | 0 | 34.1 |
About the field
WRITTEN BY THE NORWEGIAN OFFSHORE DIRECTORATE
- Development
- Balder is a field in the central part of the North Sea, just west of the Grane field. The water depth is 125 metres. Balder was discovered in 1967, and the initial plan for development and operation (PDO) was approved in 1996. The production started in 1999. The field has been developed with subsea wells tied-back to the Balder production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO). The Ringhorne deposit, located nine kilometres north of the Balder FPSO, is included in the Balder complex. Ringhorne is developed with a combined accommodation, drilling and wellhead facility, tied-back to the Balder FPSO and Jotun FPSO for processing, crude oil storage and gas export. The nearby field Ringhorne Øst is also tied-back to Balder via the Ringhorne platform. The PDO for Ringhorne Jura was approved in 2000, and the production started in 2003. The Ringhorne Vest PDO exemption was approved in 2003, and the production started in 2004. An amended PDO for Ringhorne was approved in 2007. A revised PDO for Balder and Ringhorne was approved in 2020. The development plan includes lifetime extension and relocation of the Jotun FPSO, and drilling of new subsea wells.
- Reservoir
- Balder, including Ringhorne, produces oil from several separate deposits in sandstone of Jurassic, Paleocene and Eocene age. Balder produces from the Heimdal and Hermod Formations as well as from the injected sand complex above them. Ringhorne produces from the Hugin, Ty and Hermod Formations. The reservoirs are of good to very good quality. The Balder reservoir is at a depth of 1700 metres and the Ringhorne reservoir at a depth of 1900 metres.
- Recovery strategy
- Balder and Ringhorne produce primarily by natural aquifer drive, but reinjection of produced water is used for pressure support, especially into the Ringhorne Jurassic reservoir. Excess water is injected into the Utsira Formation. Gas is also reinjected if the gas export system is down.
- Transport
- The oil is transported by tankers. Excess gas from Balder and Ringhorne is exported from the Jotun FPSO through the Statpipe system to Kårstø and from there on to continental Europe.
- Status
- Balder and Ringhorne are in the tail production phase but still have significant remaining production potential. The objective of extended field life and the relocation of the Jotun FPSO is to utilise the existing infrastructure in the area to increase the field recovery and develop the nearby discoveries.
Production by year
MONTHLY ROWS ADDED UP · NEWEST FIRST
| Year | Oil, mill Sm³ | Gas, bill Sm³ | NGL, mill Sm³ | Condensate, mill Sm³ | O.e., mill Sm³ | Water, mill Sm³ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20268 MONTHS | 2.76 | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 2.89 | 4.78 |
| 2025 | 2.94 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | 2.99 | 5.89 |
| 2024 | 1.54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.54 | 5.7 |
| 2023 | 1.22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.22 | 5.15 |
| 2022 | 0.99 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.99 | 3.82 |
| 2021 | 1.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.17 | 4.84 |
| 2020 | 1.06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.06 | 4.24 |
| 2019 | 1.38 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 1.41 | 5.28 |
| 2018 | 1.62 | 0.04 | 0 | 0 | 1.66 | 5.06 |
| 2017 | 2.12 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 2.18 | 5.84 |
| 2016 | 2.67 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | 2.76 | 5.03 |
| 2015 | 2.56 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | 2.65 | 4.44 |
| 2014 | 2.49 | 0.07 | 0 | 0 | 2.56 | 4.33 |
| 2013 | 1.92 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 1.99 | 4.69 |
| 2012 | 1.86 | 0.05 | 0 | 0 | 1.9 | 4.74 |
| 2011 | 2.27 | 0.06 | 0 | 0 | 2.33 | 5.26 |
| 2010 | 2.73 | 0.09 | 0 | 0 | 2.82 | 5.21 |
| 2009 | 3.31 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 | 3.42 | 4.62 |
| 2008 | 4.41 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 | 4.55 | 3.97 |
| 2007 | 5.62 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | 5.81 | 3.44 |
| 2006 | 6.35 | 0.21 | 0 | 0 | 6.57 | 3.11 |
| 2005 | 6.98 | 0.25 | 0 | 0 | 7.24 | 2.79 |
| 2004 | 6.05 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | 6.24 | 2.63 |
| 2003 | 3.95 | 0.03 | 0 | 0 | 3.98 | 2.16 |
| 2002 | 3.44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.44 | 2.37 |
| 2001 | 3.89 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.89 | 1.58 |
| 2000 | 4.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.02 | 1.21 |
| 19993 MONTHS | 0.88 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.88 | 0.01 |
| 19915 MONTHS | 0.13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.13 | 0 |
Wellbores
Production 86 · Observation 36 · Appraisal 27 · Injection 18 · Wildcat 6
All 173 wellbores in Balder, searchable → · Discovery wellbore 25/11-1 →
Operator history
- Vår Energi ASAJan 28, 2022 to today
- Vår Energi ASDec 10, 2018 to Jan 27, 2022
- Point Resources ASNov 1, 2017 to Dec 9, 2018
- ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Norway ASOct 1, 2004 to Oct 31, 2017
- Esso Exploration and Production Norway A/SFeb 2, 1996 to Sep 30, 2004
This field on Sodir FactPages →
About this data
Norwegian Offshore Directorate (Sodir) FactPages, mirrored nightly and used under the Norwegian Licence for Open Government Data (NLOD). Production is saleable volume by month from the Directorate's profiles, cut at the latest month any field has reported; yearly and cumulative figures are those months added up. Shares are the current rows of the field's licensee history. Reserves are the Directorate's estimate.
Developers: this page as JSON is GET /v1/data/norway/fields/43562, documented in the API reference.