STAVANGER, Norway, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil said it secured approval from the government to start fast-track plans to produce oil and natural gas from the Norwegian Sea.
Statoil announced the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy approved of its plans for the fast-track development of its Skuld field in the Norwegian Sea. Statoil said that field could come on stream by the start of 2013.
Statoil said Skuld is part of the larger Norne field in the Norwegian Sea. Skuld accounts for half of the 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent expected every day from the region by 2014. Recoverable reserves there are estimated at 90 million barrels of oil equivalent, with most of those reserves existing as crude oil.
Norway has been touting the resource potential on its continental shelf. Statoil said it expected to maintain a production capacity from the Norwegian Continental Shelf of around 600,000 barrels of oil per day for the rest of the decade.
Statoil last year recorded one of the largest oil finds on the NCS at its Johan Sverdrup field, which has a reserve estimate of more than 900 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalent.
