Norway's Sverdrup Sees Further Bump in Output

Production at the giant Johan Sverdrup oil project in the Norwegian North Sea is on track to reach 535,000 barrels/day by mid-2021, or around 100,000 b/d more than its originally expected plateau rate, operator Equinor said on January 28.

Sverdrup was brought on stream in autumn 2019 and was originally expected to flow only 440,000 b/d of oil under its first phase of development. Equinor and its partners then said in March last year that the plateau target would be increased to 470,000 b/d owing to better-than-expected well performance.

That goal was reached last year and in November, Equinor said the group was aiming for 500,000 b/d. After testing the capacity of the project's processing plant, the company has confirmed that a further hike was possible with planned water injection work this year.

"This increase is possible because the field production has been very good and stable from day one, and the wells have produced even better than expected," Equinor said.

Sverdrup has helped buoy the profits and production rates of its developers during the downturn. The field has a break-even cost of only $20/b and under its second phase, due to start up in the fourth quarter of 2022, production should exceed 700,000 b/d.

Equinor operates the field with a 42.6% stake, while Sweden's Lundin Energy has 20%, Norwegian firms Petoro and Aker BP 17.4% and 11.6% respectively and France's Total 8.4%.

In an update on January 28, Lundin said it was targeting 170,000-190,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day of production in 2021, up from 164,500 boe/d thanks to increased contributions from Sverdrup. The company also said it would increase development spending this year to $850mn from $640mn, and exploration and appraisal expenditure to $260mn from $153mn. But it will rein in renewable and carbon-offsetting investments to $70mn from $96mn, and abandonment spending to $20mn from $53mn.

Lundin has also brought forward its target for carbon neutrality to 2025, from 2030.