courtesy Statoil

Delays and difficulties at four prime fields have caused Statoil to downgrade its production forecast for 2007 by 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to between 1.15 million boed and 1.2 MMboepd, the oil company announced Thursday.

Despite $60 oil, costs at the affected projects are seen rising to NOK30 ($5) for the year.

The company cited a temporary stop for drilling at Kvitebjoern; weather-affected completions and well stability worries at Kristin; a late-arriving rig at Volve, due to produce in Q3 2007 and technical trouble at Shah Deniz, Azerbeijan and In Amenas in Algeria. In Algeria, problems lead to irregular processing.

Meanwhile, production from all oil companies in Norway fell off 1.3 MM standard cubic metres (8.18 million barrels) in March 2007, down to 20.8 MM scm (130.8 MMbbls). Oil production dropped 500,000 scm (3.1 MMbbls), while gas flows shrunk by 400,000 scm (14.1 million cubic feet).

ws@oilgas24.com