StatoilHydro's 14,000 B/D Statfjord Nord Shut-In Until 3Q '09

OSLO (Dow Jones Newswires), November 6, 2008

StatoilHydro said Wednesday it is in the process of shutting down Norwegian subsea field Statfjord Nord for technical repairs which will halt output of up to 14,000 barrels of oil a day until the third quarter 2009.

"We've had some trouble with water injection on the Statfjord satellite," said StatoilHydro spokesman Geir Gjervan. Work will be carried out on the water injection template.

"We started to phase down production in mid-October and we expect it to be at zero within the year," Gjervan said.

Statfjord Nord, located around 17 kilometers north of Statfjord field, can produce up to 14,000 barrels of oil a day. The repairs, which were unscheduled, are expected to be complete some time in the third quarter 2009.

"The challenge is we need a rig...we have to look into our rig plan to find a time" for the repairs, Gjervan said, adding the precise restart timing will be dependent on the feasibility of the rig and the repairs process.

It is being considered whether water alternating gas injection could be a method to boost oil recovery at Statjord Nord. A decision on that is expected in 2009, according to he Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.

StatoilHydro is the field operator, with a 21.88% stake, while Royal Dutch Shell holds 10%, ConocoPhillips has 12.08%, Enterprise Oil Norges 1.04%, Exxon Mobil 25% and Petoro 30%.  

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