Gullfaks tops two billion barrels

Offshore staff

Statoil's Gullfaks field in the North Sea passed a milestone topping 2 Bbbl of production.

Since coming onstream in 1986, Gullfaks has yielded oil, gas, and natural gas liquids worth roughly NKr350 billion.

"The original plans envisaged that we'd be shut down by now," Lars Christian Bacher, operations vice president for Gullfaks, says. "Technology advances, greater reservoir knowledge, and a good contribution by the organization mean that we can stay onstream for many years to come."

While Statoil has recovered 54.5% of the stock tank oil originally in place in Gullfaks, the long-term ambition is to reach a recovery rate of close to 70%. The operator plans to tie in additional reserves if new wells nearby turn up commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.

"We're continuing to search actively around Gullfaks, with three exploration wells scheduled in the area this year," Bacher says. Two of these will be extensions of existing production wells.

Gullfaks was the first field for which Statoil was responsible for both exploration and development.

05/18/05