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Norway approves Equinor's PDO for Johan Castberg offshore oil field

The Norwegian Parliament has approved the plan for development and operation (PDO) of the Johan Castberg oil field project, located 100 km north of Snøhvit in the Barents Sea (offshore Norway) and developed by Equinor (former Statoil). The PDO will now be submitted to the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for formal approval before the project can move forward.



Johan Castberg's resources are estimated at 450-650 Mboe. First oil is scheduled for 2022 and the field's production horizon will span over a 30-year period. Equinor will dedicate NOK49bn (€5.2bn) to the project, which groups together Equinor (operator 50%), Eni Norge (30%) and Petoro (20%).



Earlier in April 2018, Equinor announced new multi-billion investments in several oil and gas fields such as Johan Castberg, Askeladd (Snøhvit) and Snefrid Nord. The company will also invest approximately NOK1.15bn/year (€120m/year) to support its operations. NOK$5bn (€520m) will be dedicated to Askeladd - the second phase two of Snøhvit in the Barents Sea - which is expected to deliver 21 bcm of gas to Hammerfest LNG, extending its plateau production until 2023.