The Hammerfest LNG plant at Melkøya is the biggest of its kind in Europe. (Photo: Eiliv Leren)
An appraisal well was drilled in the Snøhvit structure earlier in the summer. Its purposes included to confirm the presence of oil and the thickness of the oil zone in its western part.
The well confirmed the presence of oil with well data being analysed and evaluated together with other geological information.
"These analyses show the presence of oil to be significantly less than we expected to find in this structure," says Geir Pettersen, senior vice president for the Tromsø Patch business cluster.
"When this is now evaluated alongside possible development solutions and current costs, it becomes clear that it isn't economically viable to develop and produce oil from the area," Mr Pettersen informs.
"This decision is final, since the start-up of gas production from Snøhvit shortly will prevent the oil zone being developed at a later stage."
The Norwegian government has been informed of the decision.
Licensees in the Snøhvit field are Statoil with a 33.53% interest, Petoro (30.00%), Total E&P Norge (18.40%), Gaz de France (12.00%), Hess Norge (3.26%) and RWE Dea with 2.81%.