StatoilHydro Cranks Out Quick Start Up At Oseberg Field

Production from Gamma Main Statfjord on the Oseberg field in the North Sea has now commenced, only eighteen months after the oil deposit was proven.

"Gamma Main Statfjord is an important part of the further development of the Oseberg area and will contribute significantly to the production in the next few years. I am very pleased that the field is now on stream, only eighteen months after the discovery," says Morten Mikkelsen, acting head of operations for the Oseberg area.

The deposit in the Gamma Main structure in the Statfjord formation is one of several small-size discoveries to be put on stream in the Oseberg area in 2008 and 2009. They will in combination contribute significantly to increased StatoilHydro oil production.

Initially producing 13 000 oil barrels per day the production from Gamma Main Statfjord will drop after a couple of years. The well is expected to remain on stream for 15 years.

The drilling of an injector has just started. The injector will provide pressure support as the reservoir is being depleted.

Drilling in the area that has now come on stream was initially performed back in 1982. The potential was great, but the exploration well struck nothing but water. The G & G community has been eager to drill a new well in a different part of the structure since then.

When an injector was planed for the neighbouring Gamma West, the geophysicist Helge Rutledal seized the opportunity. He proposed that a sidetrack be drilled to determine the potential of the structure. And, deep down in the Statfjord formation the drill string struck an 84-metre thick isolated oil column.

The Gamma Main Statfjord deposit is located underneath the western flank of the Oseberg field.