Statoil is shutting in the seven wells in Glitne oil field offshore Norway and closing the field.
Glitne, in 110 m of water on North Sea Blocks 15/5 and 15/6 about 40 km northwest of Sleipner East oil field, produced 55 million bbl of oil, more than double the original estimate.
When the field went onstream in 2001, it was expected to produce for 26 months. It produced from several overlapping sand lobes deposited as deep marine fans in the upper Paleocene Heimdal formation through the Petrojarl 1 production and storage vessel owned by Teekay Petrojarl Production ASA.
Drilling of the seventh well in 2007 was expected to extend the field life through 2009.
Statoil, operator, holds a 58.9% interest. Other interests are Total E&P Norge 21.8%, Det norske oljeselskap 10%, and Faroe Petroleum Norge 9.3%.