Equinor reaches plateau production at Johan Castberg, expansion plans under way
Equinor Energy AS has reached plateau production of 220,000 b/d from the Barents Sea Johan Castberg project, 3 months after coming on stream, and plans are already under way to potentially extend plateau production.
Plateau production was reached on June 17, the operator said in a release June 20.
Seventeen of a total of 30 wells have been completed. The wells that have come on stream are producing as expected, Equinor said.
Johan Castberg field, which came on steam Mar. 31, 2025, lies about 100 km north of Snøhvit field and is Norway’s northernmost field. The field gathers and develops resources through an FPSO from three oil discoveries: Skrugard, Havis, and Drivis, all in production license 532.
The first cargo was loaded by the tanker Bodil Knutsen on May 25, shipping around 700,000 bbl to Spain.
"Johan Castberg represents a gamechanger for the importance of the Barents Sea for Norway's future as an energy nation. Every three to four days, tank loads now depart from Johan Castberg, each of them worth around half a billion Norwegian kroner. The field will remain on stream for at least 30 years," said Kjetil Hove, Equinor's executive vice-president for exploration and production, Norway.
Production extension targets
"The Johan Castberg volume base initially estimated at 450-650 million barrels, our ambition is to increase the reserves by between 250-550 million barrels. We are already planning six new wells to extend plateau production. The Isflak project will be a rapid field development with an investment decision at the end of the year and start-up in 2028. In addition, we will drill one or two exploration wells annually near Johan Castberg," Hove said.
New exploration targets have been matured in the Johan Castberg area. Going forward, two rigs will be drilling new exploration wells in the areas around Johan Castberg and Goliat and drilling of production wells for the fields is also expected.
Equinor is operator with 46.3% interest. Partners are Vår Energi ASA (30%) and Petoro AS (23.7%).
