Oil and gas was first discovered in the Gudrun field in the North Sea 1975, but the drilling technology of the day was no match for the high pressure, high temperature reserve. After decades of development, production finally began at the Statoil-owned platform on Monday morning.
“Gudrun is the first new Statoil-operated platform to come on stream on the Norwegian continental shelf since 2005,” wrote the executive vice president for development and production in Norway, Arne Sigve Nylund, in a press release. “This is a red-letter day for the company. It’s good to see a new field joining the old giants – Statfjord, Snorre and Sleipner. Later on, Gina Krog will also come to Operations South.”
News bureau NTB reported the building of the Gudrun field has taken 16.5 million hours. The Sleipner field 55 kilometres to the south and the processing plant at Kårstø, north of Stavanger have both been modified to accommodate Gudrun’s production. Statoil and its partners GDF SUEZ and OMV expect to recover 184 million barrels of oil and gas (oil equivalent) from the field.
newsinenglish.no staff
