A decision to cease production from Statoil's Yme field in the North Sea next summer has been taken by the licensees.
This follows new production and oil price forecasts, which have been assessed in relation to charter and operating costs, reports operations vice president Sissel Moldskred.
The contract with Mærsk Contractors Norge, which owns and operates the Mærsk Giant production jack-up, has been cancelled with effect from 1 June 2001.
Similarly, the charter for the Navion Saga storage ship operated by Rasmussen Maritime has been cancelled with effect from 21 May.
"Development and production of this small field in close cooperation with the two contractors has been educational and challenging, particularly at a time of sharp fluctuations in oil prices," says Ms Moldskred.
The main Yme Gamma reservoir was brought on stream on 27 February 1996, while the Beta structure has produced since 8 June 1996 through a subsea installation tied back to Mærsk Giant.
Yme currently has seven active production wells, flowing about 16,000 barrels of oil per day.
When the producers start being shut in next March, daily output is expected to have fallen to 9,000 barrels per day. The field will have yielded some 51 million barrels of oil.