Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway — The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has issued an update on its analysis of recoverable oil from Norway’s various offshore fields and discoveries.
NPD’s goal in 2005 was to achieve growth in oil reserves of 5 BBbl over 10 years. The actual result is somewhat below that figure, although the target would have been achieved if Statoil’s development plan forJohan Sverdrup in the North Sea had been submitted before the end of 2014.
“There has been substantial resource growth in many fields,” said Kirsti Veggeland, assistant director general for shelf analysis. “The most important reasons for this are more wells, extended field lifetimes and improved knowledge.”
In addition, NPD reviewed 62 discoveries for which development decisions had not been taken in 2005. Since then, 28 have been developed and their oil reserves have nearly doubled, due to a combination of new information, improved reservoir understanding and optimization of development solutions and drainage strategies.
Discoveries made after 2004 also led to development decisions for 13 new fields, and these have contributed 80 MMcm to reserves growth, with Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, and Knarr, accounting for over 75% of that figure.
NPD had hoped that improved recovery measures would lead to stronger growth in oil volumes, Veggeland added. “However, many new opportunities to improve recovery have been identified, and the potential is greater in 2015 than it was 10 years ago.”
05/28/2015
