The first production well on Statoil's Sygna field in the Norwegian North Sea has come on stream today, 1 August.
A second producer is due to start up before the end of the year, when Sygna should be flowing about 40,000 barrels of oil per day.
Sygna contains an estimated 53.5 million barrels of recoverable oil, and the two wells are likely to produce until 2014.
The two producers will be supported by a water injection well, which is currently being completed.
The field has been developed as a satellite with a subsea template tied back to Statfjord C, which lies 21 kilometres to the south and handles processing, storage and offshore loading of the oil.
Work with Sygna is on schedule and below the cost estimate presented in the plan for development and operation.
"Although this represents a relatively small project, it is nevertheless among the best we operate," says project manager Dag Brundtland. "Our required rate of return can be met even at an oil price below USD 7 per barrel."
Good utilisation of existing infrastructure in the Statfjord area provides one reason for this good profitability, he adds.
The umbilical linking Sygna with Statfjord C incorporates a 3.5-inch methanol service line – the largest diameter used for a subsea development world-wide, according to Mr Brundtland.
This line helps to compensate for the pressure drop which occurs because of the long distance between template and platform.
Satellites Statfjord North and East are also tied back to Statfjord C, which will be delivering about 270,000 barrels per day once Sygna is in full production.
The platform's own output accounts for roughly 94,000 of this figure, with the rest coming from the three satellite fields.