Johan Sverdrup development costs slashed

Development costs for the Johan Sverdrup oil field located in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea have been reduced. 

The field, located on the Utsira Height 160 kilometers west of Stavanger, is operated by Statoil with 40.0267% interest. Its partners are Lundin with 22.6% interest, Petoro with 17.36%, Aker BP with 11.5733%, and Maersk Oil with 8.44% interest.

As Statoil reported updated key figures at the company’s Capital Markets Day on Tuesday, Aker BP said the investment costs on the Johan Sverdrup development continue to show a positive trend.

Current estimates for the first phase is estimated to NOK 97 billion (capex numbers in nominal terms based on project currency), from NOK 123 billion since the Plan for Development and Operation (PDO). Current break-even is now below 20 dollars per barrel for Phase 1, below 30 dollars per barrel for Phase 2, and below 25 dollars per barrel for the full field development project.

The estimate for the full-field investment has been improved from NOK 208 billion nominal in 2015 to a current estimate of NOK 137-152 billion nominal.

Since the PDO for the first phase was submitted, the range of the operator’s full-field resource estimate has improved from 1.7-3.0 to 2.0-3.0 billion barrels of oil equivalents.

Aker BP’s reserves in Johan Sverdrup are estimated to be 300 million barrels of oil equivalents (P50) in 2016.