Norwegian oil company Statoil has started drilling the first production well on its Johan Sverdrup oil field in the Norwegian North Sea.
A total of eight wells will be drilled through the pre-drilling template installed in the summer of 2015, before the rig is relocating to drill injection wells on three locations on the field.
The Johan Sverdrup oil field is planned to be developed in several phases. The development of phase-1 has an expected production capacity in the range of 315,000 - 380,000 bbl/d (113 - 137 Mboe/y) with first oil planned to be produced for late 2019. The second phase is scheduled for 2022. Peak production is estimated at 550,000 - 650,000 bbl/d (200 - 237 Mboe/yr). Statoil and its partners aim at a recovery rate of 70%. The capital expenditures for Phase-1 are estimated at NOK 117bn (€13.4bn) and the expected recoverable resources are projected at between 1.4-2.4 Gboe. For the full field development, capital expenditures are estimated at some NOK 170-220bn (€19.5-25.3bn) with recoverable resources of between 1.7-3.0 Gboe over 50 years. Statoil, holds 40.03% of the project, Lundin Norway 22.12%, Petoro 17.84%, Det norske oljeselskap 11.89% and Maersk Oil 8.12%.