According to Equinor, The North Sea Johan Sverdrup field expects to reach plateau production for the first phase in early May, earlier than anticipated. Plateau production was previously expected to be reached during the summer. At the end of March, the daily production had already exceeded 430,000 barrels of oil.
“Johan Sverdrup is an important project to the companies, the industry and society at large. […] With low operating costs, Johan Sverdrup provides revenue and cash flow to the companies and Norwegian society at large in a period affected by the coronavirus and a major drop in the oil price. In today’s situation, cooperation between operators, suppliers and authorities is more important than ever to maintain activity and value creation,” says Arne Sigve Nylund, Equinor’s executive vice president for Development and Production Norway.
The Johan Sverdrup field came on stream on 5 October last year, more than two months ahead of the original schedule and NOK 40 billion below the original estimate for development and operation as given in the PDO submitted to the Norwegian government in August 2015.
According to Equinor, the break-even price for the full-field development is below USD 20 per barrel and expected operating costs are below USD 2 per barrel.
At plateau in phase 2, which includes a new processing platform ready in 2022, the operator states that the field will produce 690,000 barrels of oil per day. Expected recoverable reserves in the field are 2.7 Bboe. Equinor’s ambition for the field is to achieve a recovery factor of more than 70 per cent.
