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More than $2 billion in spending slated offshore Norway

Statoil submits plans to upgrade production infrastructure for a field that could've stopped production in 2013.

By Daniel J. Graeber
Norwegian energy company Statoil spending more than $2 billion to stimulate operations in the Norwegian Sea. Photo courtesy of Oyvind Nesvag/Statoil.
Norwegian energy company Statoil spending more than $2 billion to stimulate operations in the Norwegian Sea. Photo courtesy of Oyvind Nesvag/Statoil.

March 27 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil said it submitted plans to the government to spend more than $2 billion to revitalize operations in the Norwegian Sea.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, said Monday it received plans from Statoil to extend the lifetime of the Njord field and open up new areas in the nearby Bauge discovery in the Norwegian Sea.

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The company plans to spend $1.8 billion on Njord and $481 million on Bauge.

"We are interested in ensuring investments to extend field lifetimes," Kalmar Ildstad, an assistant director for development at the NPD, said in a statement. "This will allow both recovery and value creation to increase, while also opening up opportunities for developing other discoveries in the area."

Njord production was halted last year and the infrastructure on the field was towed to shore after cracks were found on the production structure. Most of Statoil's development budget for the two projects covers upgrades to Njord production structures.

Margareth Ovrum, a vice president for drilling operations at Statoil, said that when the company submitted its first plans for Njord development 20 years ago, it was assumed that operations would end in 2013.

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"With new technology, project improvements and close cooperation with the partners and supply industry, we now see opportunities to create considerable value for another 20 years at Njord," she said in a statement.

Apart from Russia, Norway is a lead oil and natural gas supplier to the European economy, exporting nearly all of what it produces offshore.

Statoil estimates there are around 175 million barrels of oil and natural gas left in the Njord field, and another 73 million barrels of oil equivalent at Bauge.

Production from both areas should start by the fourth quarter of 2020.

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