Development of giant Norwegian oil field evolving

STAVANGER, Norway, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Statoil announced more contracts were rolling out for the Johan Sverdrup oil field offshore Norway ahead of the 2019 start of production.

Statoil, working on behalf of the consortium managing the Johan Sverdrup oil field, awarded Norwegian contractor Aibel with a $74 million contract to lay electricity cables from the shore for field development.

"Aibel has already been awarded the contract for construction of the deck for the drilling platform on Johan Sverdrup," the Norwegian company said in a statement. "This contract is the last of the three major contracts covering the land-based power supply project."

Statoil and its partners at Johan Sverdrup, Maersk Oil and Lundin Petroleum, in early 2014 outlined the development plan for the field using multiple phases.

The company said at least half of the secondary construction contracts should go to its Norwegian counterparts in the industry. For the economy, Statoil estimates Johan Sverdrup should generate $200 billion in revenues over the next 50 years.

An initial development plan submitted in February to the Norwegian government called for first-phase capital expenditures of $14.7 billion. Lead developer Statoil lowered the estimate by about $1 billion last month.

First oil is expected late 2019. The first phase of operations should yield as much as 380,000 barrels of oil per day, roughly half of the expected peak production rate.

Once in full swing, the field, the fifth largest ever discovered off the Norwegian coast, should account for up to 25 percent of all Norwegian petroleum production.