Johan Sverdrup partners aim for production increase

Equinor ASA and Johan Sverdrup field partners confirmed through a capacity test that the North Sea field can produce up to 755,000 b/d of oil.

The Utsirahøyden area field, 160 km west of Stavanger in depth of 110-120 m, reached the record-high production level—equal to 6-7% of the daily European oil consumption—this week, the operator said in a release May 23.

The process capacity test “confirms technically very robust facilities and was safely performed with no unwanted incidents,” said Marianne Bjelland, Equinor’s vice-president, exploration and production for Johan Sverdrup.

Equinor and partners Aker BP, Petoro, and TotalEnergies aim to maintain oil production from the field up towards the record-level going forward, the operator said.

The 200 sq-km field, which also produces 31,500 boe/d of gas, produces some of the lowest CO₂ emissions of any oil field, 80-90% lower than the global average, Equinor said.

Johan Sverdrup has reserves of 2.7 billion boe. Phase one opened in October 2019, while phase two started producing in December 2022. The field was originally expected to produce 720,000 b/d of oil at plateau, about a fourth of Norwegian oil production at the current level.