Statoil’s Skrugard and Havis Fields Renamed to Johan Castberg

The Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has decided to rename Statoil’s Skrugard and Havis discoveries in the Barents Sea. The field/s will now be called Johan Castberg.

According to Barents Observer, Johan Castberg, who served as a parliament member for the then Labour Democrats in the early 20th century, played a key role in developing the concession law for development of hydropower that formed the basis for exploitation of the country’s natural resources.

Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Ola Borten Moe, announced the new name during a speech at the Barents Sea Conference in Hammerfest on Monday.

In its white paper on Norway’s petroleum policy, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy recently announced a change of practice in the naming of petroleum fields on the Norwegian continental shelf. One of the measures taken was to appoint an advisory committee on names, which currently consists of Karsten Alnæs (chair), Kristin Clemet, Per Egil Hegge and Marit Hauan.

“It is important that the names of large, independent developments have a signal effect beyond the continental shelf. This helps to emphasise that the petroleum industry belongs to the entire Norwegian population,” said Minister of Petroleum and Energy Ola Borten Moe.

 Preliminary volume estimates for Johan Castberg show that the field contains  between 400-600 million barrels of recoverable oil. The area is considered to be prospective. Johan Castberg discovery is located about 100 km north of Snøhvit field, 150 km from Goliath field, almost 240 km from Melkøya island. Licensees in the project are Statoil (operator, 50%), ENI (30%) and Petoro (20%).