Equinor starts pumping oil from world's northernmost offshore field
The first oil came on stream at the Johan Castberg field before noon on March 31, marking a new northern milestone in Norway's push for Arctic oil drilling.
"Johan Castberg opens a new region for oil recovery and will create more opportunities in the Barents Sea," says Kjetil Hove, Equinor's executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway.
Located at 72,3° North, the Johan Castberg becomes the world's northernmost offshore oil in production.
The field is about 240 kilometers north of Hammerfest on the Norwegian mainland. Johan Castberg is north of both Snøhvit gas field and the Goliat oil field. All three are in the western sector of the Barents Sea. Russia has one offshore production in the very east of the Barents Sea, the Prilazlomnoye.
Equinor estimates that the Johan Castberg field will pump oil for the next 30 years.
At peak, 220,000 barrels of oil will be produced per day. In total, the recoverable volumes are estimated at between 450 and 650 million barrels.
The Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) is 300 meters long and the largest vessel of its kind ever built by Equinor. Total investments are estimated to more than 80 billion NOK (€6,85 billion).
The field's supply base and helicopter base are in Hammerfest, but only one of three employees on board the production vessel are from northern Norway.
Previous demands by regional politicians that the oil must be landed in a storage and re-loading facility onshore to bring more jobs was by Equinor decided to be too little cost efficient.
Instead, the oil is pumped up from below the sea floor which is at 300 meters depth to storage tanks onboard the FPSO before being reloaded to tankers and shipped to the markets. The first tanker, Aurora Spirit, is already waiting next to Johan Castberg according to the ship tracking online Marine Traffic.
Environmental groups in Norway have previously warned against oil drilling so far north in the Barents Sea. The Bellona Foundation said development of the Johan Castberg field is unwise both from a climate perspective and in regards to risk of oil pollution.
Equinor, however, says it will continue to explore the region for more petroleum.
"We've already made new discoveries in the area and will keep exploring together with our partners," says Kjetil Hove.
