Italian oil major Eni has warned of delays and substantial cost overruns in developing the Goliat oil field in the Barents Sea. Eni says production will start almost a year late and cost NOK 36.7 billion, which is approximately 20 percent over initial estimates.
Eni spokesman Andreas Wulff told local newspaper Finnmark Dagblad that “unforeseen challenges” in implementing new technologies on the Goliat production platform have delayed its completion. It’s being built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and is not expected to be delivered from the wharf until the end of 2013 or early in 2014. Oil would then start flowing from Goliat in the third quarter of 2014 at the earliest. It is expected to yield 170 million barrels of oil over a 15 year period.
Wulff said Eni had informed Norway’s Oil and Energy Ministry of the new estimates on Friday.
Eni owns 65 per cent of the Goliat field, with Norway’s Statoil as a 35 percent partner.
The latest delay will add another NOK 2.5 billion to Goliat’s expected cost, which had already grown considerably from its first estimates of around NOK 30 billion.
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