Gina Krog oil and gas field, located 30 km northwest of Sleipner field on the Utsira High in the Norwegian North Sea, has started production on June 30.
Statoil Petroleum is the operator of Gina Krog, with an interest of 58.7%. Other partners are: Total E&P Norge AS (15%), KUFPEC Norway (15%), PGNiG Upstream Norway (8%) and Aker BP (3.3%).
Statoil and the partners have invested some NOK31bn ($3.7bn) in the development of the Gina Krog field.
The Gina Krog platform uses processing capacity on the platform and the existing pipelines of Sleipner A to send gas to the market in Europe.
Oil from Gina Krog will be transported by a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO), which will be located on the field.
Gina Krog was initially thought to be a small-size gas discovery in 1974. However, in 2007 and 2008 oil was struck, indicating the importance of near-field exploration.
Though Gina Krog is a global project, it has considerable Norwegian inputs. The living quarters have been constructed at Stord. More than half of the equipment comes from Norway, and all drilling and well services are performed by Norwegian suppliers.
Statoil’s Technology, Projects and Drilling executive vice-president said: “We are proud to have delivered Gina Krog with a good HSE record and in line with the cost estimate in the plan for development and operation.
Gina Krog is expected to create jobs, both onshore and offshore, for 15 to 20 years.
Image: The Gina Krog platform is tied into Sleipner A. Photo courtesy of Ole Jørgen Bratland/Statoil.