Just over NOK 15 million has been saved by Statoil through improved well intervention on Statfjord during the past six months.
These measures on the North Sea field focus on planning, execution and routines for downhole work. Five coiled tubing and two snubbing (intervention in a pressurised well) jobs have cut the group's costs by NOK 9.4 million and NOK 6 million respectively.
The savings represent reductions of 22 and 28 per cent respectively on the earlier cost of similar operations.
Oil production over the same period rose initially by about 44,000 barrels per day. The intervention tasks were done without lost-time injuries.
A good deal of well intervention will be essential to maintain continued output from Statfjord. As operator, Statoil's long-term goal is to keep the field in profitable production to 2020.
That depends in part on reducing costs - particularly for downhole work, because such jobs account for an ever-increasing proportion of production expenses.
The Statfjord reservoir utilisation department took the initiative on establishing an improvement project in the autumn of 1997. This aims to achieve a better performance on costs while enhancing health, environmental and safety results.
Statoil is cooperating closely with suppliers on improving well intervention work. Such collaboration will continue, confirms well engineering leader Tom Are Solvoll in the reservoir utilisation team. He adds that other licences have launched efforts to improve the efficiency of downhole working.