The plan for development and operation (PDO) of Statoil’s Volve discovery in the North Sea was approved in the Norwegian Council of State today, 22 April.
Oil from this field is to be produced from the Mærsk Inspirer jack-up rig, with the Navion Saga tanker being used for storage.
Associated gas from Volve will be piped to Statoil’s Sleipner A platform for final processing and export.
“We’ve chosen a stand-alone development for Volve which makes it possible to phase in additional resources later,” says Volve project manager Svein Løining.
Total development and operating costs for Volve are put at roughly NOK 7 billion, with investment accounting for just under NOK 2 billion of that sum.
Plans call for Volve to come on stream in the spring of 2007, with the field expected to produce for four-five years.
Recoverable reserves are put at 70 million barrels of oil and 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas, and plateau output should be 50,000 barrels per day.