Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Jan. 25 -- StatoilHydro AS has restarted gas and condensate production from Kvitebjorn field in the Norwegian North Sea after repairs were identified for the pipeline from the field to the Kollsnes processing plant on the west coast. The line was damaged by a ship's anchor last fall. Gas exports from Visund, which uses the same pipeline, also have resumed to Kollsnes.
This summer StatoilHydro will repair the pipeline, which suffered damage to its weight coating. However, in the meantime internal experts and consultants said it has "sufficient technical integrity" for temporary operation.
Kvitebjorn was scheduled to start up again in November after production was temporarily stopped in May to stem falling reservoir pressure during its complex drilling program (OGJ Online, May 5, 2007). The field had operated at about 50% of its 190,000 boe/d capacity since December 2006.
Production problems with this field, which started in 2004 and came to 11 million cu m/day, was one of the reasons StatoilHydro missed its 2007 production target. "There are no capacity restraints now," a company spokesman told OGJ.
Kvitebjorn is on Block 34/11, east of Gullfaks field in the North Sea. According to current plans, some 55 billion cu m of gas and 22 million cu m of condensate will be produced.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
