HOUSTON, Aug. 29 -- Statoil AS said Wednesday that Glitne oil field, the smallest Norwegian continental shelf discovery to be developed independently, has been brought on stream.
Statoil said the Glitne development was based on the experiences gained from the North Sea's small Yme field, where production ceased earlier this year. As with Yme, another company is operating and producing Glitne.
Glitne is on blocks 15/5 and 6, about 40 km northwest of Sleipner field. Owners are Statoil with 68.9%, TotalFinaElf Exploration Norge AS 21.8%, and Norsk Hydro Production AS 9.3% (OGJ Online, June 28, 2000). Yme is on blocks 9/1, 2, and 5 (OGJ Online, Nov. 23, 2000).
Petroleum Geo-Services ASA (PGS) is producing Glitne from its ship Petrojarl 1. Glitne contains around 25 million bbl of recoverable oil and has an estimated production life of up to 3 years, depending on oil prices.
PGS said initial peak production, about 40,000 b/d, would be moved to shore with the shuttle tanker Petroskald.
"Statoil has had a very good partnership with Petroleum Geo-Services, and the use of Petrojarl 1 has made it possible to develop this field," said Henrik Carlsen, executive vice-president for exploration & production Norway.
"We will continue to work on developing small fields -- both those that are close to existing fields, and as independent solutions where it is not possible to exploit existing infrastructure," he said.
Carlsen noted Statoil often develops small fields as satellites, and the group is working on a number of candidates that could come on stream within the next few years.
