Statoil has submitted a plan to the Norwegian government to develop and operate a $940-million project designed to squeeze more oil and gas out of the Oseberg area of the North Sea. A rare investment decision amid a collapse of crude prices, the Oseberg Vestflanken 2 project is designed to extract 110 million barrels of oil equivalent, thanks to Norway’s first unmanned wellhead platform, the Stavanger-based company said in a statement, Bloomberg reported. Cost cuts have reduced total investments by $114 million since the concept decision in February, it said. “Oseberg Vestflanken 2 meets the current cost challenges and higher efficiency requirements with an innovative concept based on simplification,” Ivar Aasheim, senior vice president for field development in Norway, said in the statement. “This is a pioneering project on the Norwegian continental shelf that the industry can learn from.” Statoil is the operator of the Oseberg field with a 49.3% stake, while Norway’s state-owned Petoro AS holds 33.6%, Total SA has a 14.7% stake and ConocoPhillips 2.4%.
