Statoil expects more from key North Sea field

STAVANGER, Norway, July 3 (UPI) -- Norwegian energy company Statoil said Thursday it expects to extend the lifespan of its offshore Oseburg Ost field with a new drilling campaign next year.

"We are expecting to increase the recovery rate on Oseberg Ost from around 20 percent to up to 30 percent when we drill the first planned wells," Kjetil Hove, a senior vice president in charge of the Norwegian business area, said in a statement. "We also have the possibility of drilling more wells and further increasing the recovery rate towards 40 percent, which is almost double the rate in the plan for development and operation." One of the largest discoveries this year in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea was made by Statoil in the so-called Heather formation of the Oseberg area, which has proven as much as 250 million cubic feet of oil equivalent so far.

Drilling new wells in the Oseberg Ost field should double its lifespan, the company said.

Statoil last month opened a $39 million research center aimed at increasing oil recovery rates from the Norwegian continental shelf to 60 percent, 30 percent above the global average.

Norway is a European leader in terms of oil and natural gas production.