Statoil ready for work in vast North Sea field

STAVANGER, Norway, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil said Friday it awarded a drilling contract to oil services company Schlumberger for the vast Mariner field in the North Sea.

Discovered in the early 1980s, production at Mariner was delayed because of technological limitations in extracting the denser type of oil. Statoil said it was bringing its experience in Canada and elsewhere to Mariner to facilitate heavy oil development.

The British government expects the field to produce around 55,000 barrels of oil per day, about 5 percent of the country's current output.

Statoil said Schlumberger, for an undisclosed sum, will conduct all of the main drilling and well services for the Mariner field.

"We will work side by side to meet the challenges in the market, driving performance, creating value and dividing risk," Gunnar Breivik, managing director for British production at Statoil, said in a statement.

Statoil is among the growing number of energy companies to trim the growth expectations because of the low price of crude oil. When awarding consent to the company last year, the British government said the project represents a $7.1 billion vote of confidence.

Statoil said drilling should begin in 2016, with production set for the following year.