Privately-owned oil firm Point Resources is close to a final investment decision to extend the lifetime of its Balder field off Norway, the company said on May 31.

The HitecVision-backed firm last year acquired assets operated by ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), including the Balder field, for nearly $1 billion.

The Balder field extension plan includes re-deployment of the Jotun FPSO vessel to the Balder area, a new infill drilling program on the Balder and Ringhorne fields as well as additional exploration wells, it added.

Point Resources’ production for the first-quarter stood at 40,932 barrels of oil equivalents per day (boe/d), and production cost averaged $15 per barrel, it said in its first-quarter report.

The company also said it saw a potential to grow its production base organically to about 130,000 boe/d by 2023.

It reported $239 million in revenue and $88 million in operating profit in the first-quarter, up from pro-forma figures of $194 million and $56 million respectively from the first-quarter of 2017.

In March, Point Resources completed a senior unsecured bond issue of $250 million with maturity in September 2024.

Offshore