Equinor announced that commence of production from its Statfjord Øst project which is expected to increase production from this field by 26 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).

It added that the oil recovery rate from the field is expected to rise from 58% to 63% after the operation of this project.

The company also said that the project is projected to deliver within estimated cost noting that its production starts six months ahead of planned schedule.

“This proves the importance of extending the life of mature fields and maximizing value creation from existing infrastructure on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS). The project contributes to extending the life of Statfjord C to 2040. The profitability is high, and the value of increased production equals around NOK 20 billion at the current oil price. This is good use of resources which provide ripple effects for Norwegian suppliers,” says Camilla Salthe, Equinor’s senior vice president for Field Life eXtension (FLX).

“This is a good example of how we work with mature fields. Equinor aims to be a leading operator of late-life fields on the NCS. That means that we need to find new ways of working to reduce costs. Together with our partners we have developed simpler and faster solutions while maintaining high quality,” says Ketil Rongved, Equinor’s vice president for FLX projects.