Statoil starts oil, gas work in north Sea

The start of production from the Visund North oil and gas field in the North Sea marks the sixth of 12 projects slated for fast-track development, Statoil said. "Production from Visund North is a significant part of the production from the Visund field," Tom Karsten Gustavsen, Statoil's regional vice president, said in a statement Wednesday. The company said startup was about a month behind a schedule set two years ago because of the temporary closure of a platform associated with the field. The company reported a gas leak associated with a Visund production platform in April 2011. Statoil said the Visund North field holds 29 million barrels of oil equivalent and represents an investment of $550 million. Production at the Visund South field in the North Sea started in November 2012. The volume of reserves in Visund South was estimated by Statoil at 67 million barrels of oil equivalent. All 12 of the projects slated for fast-track development should be producing 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of next year.