The Grane oil field in the North Sea, operated by Hydro, produces more than expected - and set a new daily production record on 10 March at 243,000 barrels.
The record far surpasses original plans for the Grane field, which was expected to have plateau production of 214,000 barrels per day.
A series of obstacles were overcome towards the end of the project phase making possible daily production of 240,000 barrels.
"The record is a combination of recent normal high production and the start up of the first lateral well on the field, G10. It's satisfying to see a complex well contribute so much to production. Hydro’s drilling team at Sandsli, Bergen, gets all the credit for this," says field manager Svein Hatlem.
Grane was already producing more than expected before the new well started operating. The previous record on the field was achieved the week after Christmas, at 236,000 barrels per day.
"Grane has been producing significantly higher than planned during the first quarter of this year because the reservoir and wells have developed to a much higher degree than we anticipated. It's great that the reservoir is yielding so much and that the offshore and onshore organizations are managing to maintain such high production regularity," Hatlem says.
High liquid volumes mean gas injection is even more critical to maintaining reservoir pressure. The most important task ahead is corresponding gas injection to the high production level.
"Future production will probably be somewhat lower than the record volume, but we expect that G10 will contribute to much higher Grane production than budgeted," says Hatlem.