Only way is up for Statoil's fields

A year to remember: Statoil drilling operations in the Barents Sea

HARALD PETTERSEN/STATOIL

By Beate Schjolberg Oslo

 17 May 2012 22:59 GMT

Norwegian operator Statoil and its partners in the past year’s large discoveries are pushing ahead with development plans to bring the North Sea and Barents Sea fields on stream in 2018.

The companies aim to cut down the average Norwegian lead time from discovery to production from 10 years to seven, by working in parallel with project plans and continued exploration and appraisal drilling in the Johan Sverdrup and Skrugard licences.

The North Sea Sverdrup oil discovery was the biggest worldwide in 2011, with volumes currently estimated at between 1.7 billion and 3.3 billion barrels of oil in a high-quality reservoir.

Statoil and Swedish independent Lundin each operate one of the two licences the field straddles.

The companies are currently carrying out a six-well appraisal…

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