Statoil preps for deepwater development

Norwegian energy company Statoil announced it was taking a major step to exploring the deep waters of the Norwegian Sea. Statoil said it was preparing to install a platform at the Luva natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea. The field is in roughly 4,200 feet of water on the Norwegian continental shelf. \"This development may represent the start of deep-water production in the Norwegian Sea, and it will enable the tie-in of other discoveries in the same area,\" Ivar Aasheim, senior vice president for NCS field development at Statoil, said in a statement. Statoil characterizes the Luva field as a deep-water pioneer in the Norwegian Sea. The deep-water platform will be the first of its kind in the NCS. It has a production capacity of around 800 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Statoil said it expected major developments from the continental shelf would continue through 2020. The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy announced this month that it renamed the giant offshore Aldous/Avaldsnes oil field after Johan Sverdrup, the leader of the political movement that introduced the parliamentary system to Norway in the late 1800s. The government said the move was a reflection of the importance of NCS development.