Norway OKs North Sea field development

The Norwegian government on Sept. 23 approved development of a North Sea oil and natural gas find near Norsk Hydro ASA’s existing Oseberg field.

Even though the Oseberg Delta find is relatively small by Norwegian standards, it is in keeping with a government drive to maintain the nation’s production levels by encouraging development of moderate finds.

“I am very glad the Oseberg license holders have decided to develop Delta,” said Oil Minister Thorhild Widvey. “This project will help maintain production levels in the Oseberg area in the years to come.”

Norway is the world’s third-largest oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia and Russia, with a capacity of about 3 million barrels per day, plus natural gas.

However, production has begun to decline at some aging fields, and the government is looking to small finds, such as Delta, and the frontier provinces of the far north to help supply a world hungry for petroleum.

Widvey said this was the ninth offshore development approved by the government so far this year, with total expected investment of about 45 billion kroner (US$7.1 billion). Delta, discovered in 1998, is about 95 miles west of Bergen, the main city on Norway’s west coast. It has estimated reserves of 63.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and about 17 million barrels of oil and natural gas liquids.

The 1.8 billion kroner (US$286 million) project will use so-call “subsea” technology, with all production equipment on the seabed and link the find to the Oseberg D offshore platform by pipeline. Norsk Hydro, based on the outskirts of Oslo, is one of Norway’s largest companies, with about 35,000 employees in 40 countries.

—The Associated Press