Equinor has started production from the Johan Sverdrup field, a giant oil and gas field in the Norwegian part of the North Sea, two months ahead schedule and NOK 40bn (€4bn) below the original cost estimates in the Plan for development and operation (PDO).
Financed by Equinor (40%, operator), Lundin (22.6%), Petoro (17.4%), Aker BP (11.6%) and Total (8.4%), Johan Sverdrup is the largest field development on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) since the 1980s, with recoverable reserves estimated at 2.7 Gboe. About 95% of this is oil, 3% is dry gas and the rest is NGL (Natural Gas Liquids). The first loading program will start in October 2019. Oil production is anticipated to ramp up to 440,000 bbl/d in the summer of 2020 and should rise further to 660,000 bbl/d once the second phase comes on stream in late 2022. The break-even price for the full-field development is less than US$20/bbl and expected operating costs are estimated below US$2/bbl (€1.8/bbl), after reaching plateau for the first phase (in the summer of 2020). The field is expected to be operated over more than 50 years.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of Norway has reported on the status of major projects under development or that recently started operations. Thirteen projects led by Equinor are on this list: 8 projects have reduced costs since submitting their PDO, 1 has remained unchanged and 4 have reported higher costs, of which two have posted a more than 20% cost increase. In particular, the costs estimates for the Martin Linge project have grown by NOK 7.9bn (in 2019-kroner, i.e. €788m), since the project is suffering significant delays and substantial cost overruns. In addition, the cost of the Njord Future project (upgrade of the Njord A platform and the Njord Bravo storage ship) has been revised upward due to comprehensive works (+ NOK 4.5bn in 2019-kroner, i.e. €450m).