The Statoil-operated Glitne oil field in the North Sea came on stream today, 29 August. Glitne is the smallest field on the Norwegian continental shelf to be developed independently.
The Glitne development is based on the experiences gained from the North Sea's small Yme field, where production ceased earlier this year. On Glitne, as was the case on Yme, another company is taking responsibility for operation and production.
Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) will be responsible for production from its ship Petrojarl 1. Glitne contains around 25 million barrels of recoverable oil and has an estimated production life of two to three years, depending on oil price trends.
“Statoil has had a very good partnership with Petroleum Geo-Services, and the use of Petrojarl 1 has made it possible to develop this field,” reports Henrik Carlsen, executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway.
“We will continue to work on developing small fields – both those that are close to existing fields, and as independent solutions where it is not possible to exploit existing infrastructure,” he adds.
Small fields can typically come on stream shortly after the decision has been taken to develop them. Since they contain relatively small amounts of oil and gas they can be emptied in the space of a few years of production.
Statoil often develops small fields as satellites, and the group is currently working on a number of candidates which could come on stream within the next few years, confirms Mr Carlsen.