Tomorrow, 22 December, it will be 15 years since oil began to flow from Statoil’s Gullfaks development in the North Sea.
This was the first time a Norwegian company had been responsible for every phase of bringing an offshore field on stream, from exploration through development to production.
With three fixed platforms, Gullfaks has so far generated revenues of NOK 308 billion. Production from the main field totals about 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Daily output over the platforms currently amounts to 280,000 barrels of crude and 11 million cubic metres of natural gas per day from the main field and the Gullfaks satellites, confirms Roald Riise, vice president for Gullfaks operations.
“This field has maintained good and stable oil production over the years,” he observes.
“We’ve got more out of the reservoirs than we thought possible, thanks to very able and motivated personnel with high levels of expertise.”
Instead of giving all employees in the Gullfaks organisation a 15th anniversary gift, NOK 150,000 has been donated to two charitable organisations.
One of these is the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue, with the Salvation Army in Norway as the other.