Statoil and its partners have started production at the Norwegian Byrding field as planned, it said July 28. Recoverable volumes in Byrding are estimated at "a good 11mn barrels of oil equivalent," it said. Byrding is an oil and gas field north of the Troll field in the North Sea.

The partners have invested around Nkr 1bn ($125mn) in Byrding, compared with the estimated Nkr3.5bn.

“Good utilisation of existing infrastructure has resulted in a cost-effective development that will add profitable resources to the Troll field,” Statoil said. The state-owned major increased its share in Byrding from 45% to 70% when the company acquired Wintershall Norge’s share of 25% in October 201. The other licensees are Engie E&P (15%) and Idemitsu (15%)

The Byrding development includes a two-branch multilateral well drilled from the existing Fram H-Nord subsea template, through which oil and gas are flowing to Troll C. The multilateral well is around 7 km long and splits into two. Oil is routed in existing pipelines to Mongstad and the gas via Troll A to Kollsnes.

William Powell