Statoil gets new field online early

• Tweet

STAVANGER, Norway, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil announced its fast-tracked Hyme oil field in the Norwegian Sea is on stream one month earlier than expected.

Statoil spent more than $790 million on developing the Hyme oil fields in the southern section of the Norwegian Sea.

"The field came on stream one month earlier than we assumed in the plan for development and operation," Halfdan Knudsen, a portfolio planner for Statoil, said in a statement.

Statoil estimates the field holds as much as 30 million barrels of oil equivalent. Most of the recoverable reserves exist as oil deposits. The company said the field, discovered in 2009, should be able to produce oil and natural gas past 2020.

Statoil said its fast-track program is targeted at discoveries like Hyme that are close to existing fields in Norwegian waters.

"We have now gained useful experience which helps us accelerate forthcoming development projects and execution in 30 months will thus be feasible for most of the prospects to be drilled in 2013," Knudsen said.