courtesy Statoil

Statoil and partners at the Kvitebjoern field in the North Sea will stop gas and light oil production after a fall in reservoir pressure after intervention work, it was understood Friday.

Production capacity at Kvitebjørn is 190,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, divided between Statoil (43.55 percent), Petoro (30 percent), Hydro (15 percent), Shell (6.45 percent) and total (5 percent).

New technology has had to be “adapted” due to the field’s “complexity”, leading to a longer-than-expected drilling programme and lower field pressure.

Production has been in decline since December, and “In order to prevent an additional fall in pressure and thereby maintain safe operations, and to facilitate the drilling of more wells to secure reserves and the future production level, the operator has decided to shut down the field”, a statement said.

The shut-down means Statoil will miss its production target for 2007. A new target for the year will be disclosed on May 7.