Northernmost oil platform now pumping after years of delay
Norway’s Minister of Oil and Energy, Tord Lien, can smile as the world’s northernmost oil platform now pump oil after years of delay.
“This is a big day northern-Norway,” says Geir Seljeseth, Regional Manager of the Norwegian Oil and Gass Association.
In a telephone interview from Tromsø Sunday morning, Seljeseth says to the Independent Barents Observer that the project is important for the supply industry, for Hammerfest as a town and with repercussions for all over northern Norway.
“This creates a basis for decades of production that will give solid income for the society and welfare in Norway.”
It was Petro.no that first reported about the startup of oilpumping from Eni Norway’s Goliat platform.
More than two years delayed
Located 88 kilometres north of Hammerfest in the western part of the Barents Sea, Goliat sets world record for being the northernmost offshore oil field. It is the second offshore oil production unit in the European part of the Arctic, after Russia’s Prirlazlomnoya in the Pechora Sea.
The Goliat project has turned a nightmare-like story for the Italian oil company. Production at the platform was originally to start in 2013. Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority formally approved the use of the Goliat floating, production and offloading platform in January this year.
The licensees in the current Production Licences PL229/229B are Eni Norge AS (operator, 65%) and Statoil Petroleum AS (35%).
- Estimated recoverable oil reserves: 28,5 million Sm3 /179 million barrels
- Estimated recoverable gas reserves: 8 billion Sm3
- Annual operating costs: approximately NOK 1.5 billion
Source: Eni Norway
Construction of the platform in South-Korea was long delayed and costs overrun are estimated to NOK 17 billion (€1,8 billion). Total price tag for the project is now NOK47 billion (€5 billion).
The Goliat field in the Barents Sea was discovered 16 years ago. Estimated production will be some 100,000 barrels per day. The oil will be stored in the floater itself before being reloaded to tankers and sailed to the markets.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Energy challenges in Canada’s North, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Chinese energy giant plans €1bn biofuel plant in northern Finland, Yle News
Norway: Japan wants wind power from Arctic Norway, Barents Observer
Russia: Arctic offshore oil more than doubled in Russia, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Will Sweden be able to produce enough energy in the future?, Radio Sweden
United States: Obama, Trudeau announce plans to fight Arctic oil and gas pollution; Alaskans criticize lack of input, Alaska Dispatch News
