Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Statoil’s Exploration & Production Norway business area, announced that on 24 November 1979 Statfjord brought one of the North Sea’s largest oil fields on stream. Today the company operates a field where 65% of the total output is gas. Through the Statfjord late life project, Statoil has made massive alterations and investments in recent years to prepare the three Statfjord platforms for production of gas and oil with lower pressure. Big changes are also going on in the subsurface. For many years the focus has been on keeping up the pressure in the reservoir to press out as much oil as possible. Today it is all about reducing the pressure in the reservoir to get out the remaining gas. Reducing the pressure causes the gas to bubble out of the remaining oil volumes. This process has now started in the reservoirs 2.5km below the Statfjord platforms. “This is the first big field we are converting from oil to gas production. The experience we gain from Statfjord will be crucial when other oil giants like Oseberg and Gullfaks undergo similar changes.” says Mr Michelsen. The Statfjord late life project increases the recovery rate from the Statfjord field to 66% for oil and 71% for gas. The total value creation from Statfjord is now worth as much as NOK 1,200 billion. This is equivalent to half of the assets in the Norwegian Government Pension Fund.
