The Johan Sverdrup, Norway's giant oil field in the North Sea, is expected to increase its daily production capacity up to 535,000 barrels of oil by mid-2021, Equinor, the operator of the field said.
The increase is around 100,000 barrels more than the original basis at start-up in October 2019.
"Equinor and its partners tested the plant capacity in November 2020 to verify a possible production rise. Rates up to 535,000 barrels of oil per day were tested," the company said.
The capacity increase depends on water-injection, which is planned for this year.
"This increase is possible because the field production has been very good and stable from day one, and the wells have produced even better than expected," says Rune Nedregaard, vice president for Johan Sverdrup operations.
This will be the third capacity increase since the field came on stream in October 2019.
Equinor reminded that the Johan Sverdrup field was powered from shore with very low CO2 emissions per barrel.
"In 2020 one barrel of oil produced at the field emitted below 0.2 kg CO2 – almost 100 times lower than the global average. Emissions during the field life are estimated at less than 0.7kg CO2 per produced barrel," the company said.
"The barrels from Johan Sverdrup is of high value with a break-even below USD 20 per barrel for the full field development," the company added.
Equinor is the operator of the field with 42.6%, with partners being Lundin Energy Norway: 20%, Petoro: 17.36%, Aker BP: 11.5733% and Total: 8.44%.