Norwegian regulator processing plans to develop a cross-border reserve field submitted by Statoil. Image courtesy of Statoil.
STAVANGER, Norway, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Developing a natural gas basin straddling the maritime borders of the United Kingdom and Norway will be a win-win for the industry and Oslo, a regulator said.
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Directorate said it was surveying the latest development plan for the Utgard discovery, a discovery made in the early 1980s and considered several times for development. Norwegian energy company Statoil is the operator and could develop the area in Norwegian waters with up to four wells that would be tied into existing production facilities.
"The NPD expects that the realization of the resources in Utgard will contribute to value creation for both the Norwegian society and the licensees," Tove Francke, a development director for the agency, said in a statement.
Statoil submitted its project development plans to the government earlier this week. At its peak, the company said the field could produce as much as 245,000 cubic feet of oil equivalents per day in natural gas and an ultra-light form of oil known as condensate.
Capital spending will be around $420 million dollars and first production is expected by late 2019. Norway is one of the top oil and natural gas suppliers to the region and Statoil said Utgard is its first in several years that straddles maritime borders.
"Good and efficient cooperation across the board, both in relation to partners and government authorities, has made this development possible," Torger Rod, a vice president in charge of project development, said in a statement.
