The shuttle tanker Petroskald arrived at the Mongstad refinery near Bergen yesterday, 9 September, with the first consignment of crude from the Glitne field in the North Sea.
The cargo, which totals 250,000 barrels of crude, will be unloaded today during the course of the afternoon.
The storage and shuttle tanker Petroskald has been chartered by the Glitne licensees for the entire production period. The ship has a storage capacity of 250,000 barrels of oil. In addition 190,000 barrels can be stored on the Petrojarl 1 production ship.
Due to the limited storage possibilities on the field, Petroskald has just five days to get to the unloading port, unload and return to the field.
The Glitne crude contains more heavy oil and metals than the types of oil usually processed at the Mongstad refinery. Inge Fonnes, head of production planning at Mongstad, says that this first consignment will be mixed with other types of oil before it is tested out in the refining process.
The Glitne field came on stream on 29 August. Kåre Ørstavik, Statoil's representative on Petrojarl 1, states that the start-up has gone well. Production has stabilised at around 40,000 barrels of oil per day, which is the maximum volume the ship can produce.