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Norway’s Giant Johan Sverdrup Oil Field Now Fully On Stream

Mike Schuler
Total Views: 1254
December 15, 2022

Norwegian energy company Equinor has announced the start of production for Phase 2 of its giant Johan Sverdrup oil field development in the North Sea.

“The entire Johan Sverdrup field is now on stream,” says Geir Tungesvik, Equinor’s executive vice president for Projects, Drilling & Procurement. “This is a red-letter day for us and our partners, Aker BP, Petoro and TotalEnergies, but also for Norway and Europe. Johan Sverdrup accounts for large and important energy deliveries, and in the current market situation, most of the volumes will go to Europe.”

Johan Sverdrup is the third largest oil field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and the largest development in three decades, with recoverable volumes of 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Johan Sverdrup field will plateau at 720,000 barrels of oil per day, potentially increasing to 755,000 per day, equivalent to 6 to 7 percent of the daily oil demand in Europe. More than 90% of deliveries from Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 will go to Norway, meeting about a third of Norway’s total oil demand.

Equinor says the full-field development of Johan Sverdrup has a break-even price of less than US $15 per barrel.

Oil from Johan Sverdrup is transported by pipeline to Mongstad for transshipment, while gas is piped to Kårstø.

The Johan Sverdrup Phase 2 project consists of a new platform, five new subsea systems, 28 new wells, a new module for the existing riser platform, and facilities to send power from shore to the Utsira High area, where the Johan Sverdrup field is located in central part of the North Sea approximately 65 km northeast of the Sleipner fields.

The Johan Sverdrup field has been developed in two phases, with Phase 1 coming on stream on October 5, 2019. The field reduces its emissions by receiving power from shore via cables from Haugsneset, to the north of Stavanger. The first cable currently supplies the first four platforms on the Johan Sverdrup field with electricity. The new cable supplies the fifth platform and the rest of the Utsire High installations.

“In combination, this reduces CO2 emissions by a total of 1.2 million tonnes per year, equivalent to 2,5 percent of Norway’s annual emissions,” says Marianne M. Bjelland, Vice President of exploration and production for the Johan Sverdrup and Martin Linge areas. “Electrification is an important measure to further developing the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) towards the goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“I am proud that we have now put the entire Johan Sverdrup field on stream in a safe and secure manner. We will deliver stable energy volumes for several decades, while contributing to Norwegian value creation for a long time to come,” she adds.

Partners in the project include Equinor, serving as operator and holding a 42.6267% stake, along with Aker BP (31.5733%), Petoro AS (17.36%) and TotalEnergies EP Norge AS (8.44%).

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