Equinor has brought on stream the biggest field to be developed off Norway in three decades with start-up of Johan Sverdrup achieved ahead of schedule and under budget — even if a dearth of fresh finds could make it the last of the Norwegian giants.
The field, with estimated recoverable reserves of as much as 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, has been developed with a four-platform hub at a cost of Nkr83 billion ($9 billion) for the first phase - down Nkr40 billion on the original estimate - and has started producing two months earlier than expected.
