A 10 per cent interest in production licence 048B – which contains Glitne and Norway's share of Enoch – is being sold by Statoil to Den Norske Oljeselskap (DNO).
Subject to the necessary official approvals, this deal will leave the group with 28.9 per cent of the North Sea licence and the operatorship.
Tor Fjæran, vice president for new areas in Exploration & Production Norway, has been responsible for negotiating the sale.
With its expressed strategy for developing small fields and experience from the UK continental shelf, he says, DNO could be an important partner for Statoil on Glitne and possibly on other small discoveries.
Statoil is working to come up with solutions for smaller finds, and its aim for Glitne is to present a plan for development and operation this summer.
That could bring the field on stream as early as next year. A stand-alone solution with a production ship or other mobile unit is being considered.
Glitne contains some 25 million barrels of recoverable oil. With development costs put at roughly NOK 500 million, production is expected to last for two-three years.
PL 045B is currently being separated from the original PL 048, which covers block 15/5 in the Sleipner area. The other partners are Elf with 28.1 per cent, Norsk Hydro with 9.3 per cent and the state's direct financial interest (SDFI) with 30 per cent.