Equinor has submitted to the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning an environmental impact statement detailing plans for the development of the Rosebank oil and gas field with recoverable resources of more than 350 mboe, located west of Shetland, in the North Sea (United Kingdom). Hydrocarbon production should peak at around 70,000 boe/day, including 69,000 bbl/d of oil and 44 mcf/d (0.5 bcm/year) of natural gas.
Equinor, which is the operator and owns 40% of the field, together with Suncor Energy (40%) and Ithaca Energy (20%), plans to take a final investment decision (FID) on the first phase of development in February 2023. Development work should start in 2024, drilling would begin in 2025 and first oil extraction is expected to be achieved in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The field will be developed in two phases in which the wells will be connected to a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel on which the oil and gas will be processed. The gas will be exported from the FPSO via a new pipeline to the existing West of Shetland Pipeline systems (WOSPS). The oil will be offloaded using tankers.
Equinor was one of the original partners in Rosebank but sold its stake to Austria's OMV in 2013. The firm re-entered the project in 2019 by acquiring a 40% operating share from Chevron. The Rosebank field was discovered in 2004, but a difficult deep-water environment, a low level of infrastructure in the area and high-cost estimates have stalled development over the years.