Minister of Petroleum and Energy Kjell Børge Freiberg. Photo: Adrian Søgnen
Here comes the champagne oil to Mongstad
Oil from the giant field Johan Sverdrup in the North Sea provides increased activity at Mongstad.
by Marie Misund Bringslid
Published 21.10.2019 14:02 / Updated 21.10.2019 14:36
- This is industrial history that is written, says Oil and Energy Minister Kjell-Børge Freiberg (Frp) to Sysla.
On Monday, he was able to drain the “first oil” from the Johan Sverdrup field at the Mongstad plant, north of Bergen, with the help of 19-year-old Sander Rath, an apprentice in Equinor.
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The oil is transported in pipes from the Sverdrup field in the North Sea, a distance of 283 kilometers. At Mongstad, the oil is stored in so-called caverns, which are mountain halls, and prepared for further transport by ship to markets around the world.
- There is only one thing I wish for today, and that is that we will find more Johan Sverdrup fields, says Freiberg.
The Sverdrup oil is expected to generate revenues of more than NOK 1400 billion over the next 50 years, of which more than NOK 900 billion goes to the Norwegian state and society.
- The pipes here at Mongstad are welfare pipes in the proper sense. I can’t think of a better description, says Freiberg.
The first shipload of Sverdrup oil is expected to go from Mongstad to customers in Asia this week.
The first cargo will be shipped to China via the Orpheas tanker, via the Suez Canal.
Future loads are expected to hold between 600,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels. The first load is one million barrels, which with an oil price of $ 60 per barrel will have a market value of about $ 60 million, or over half a billion.
Production on the Sverdrup field started on October 5. The date enters into Norwegian oil history - the field is the third largest on the Norwegian continental shelf and the first giant expansion since the 1980s.
Operator Equinor delivered the development plan to Johan Sverdrup in February 2015. The project entailed investments of around NOK 100 billion. At about the same time, one of the worst oil crises in a long time hit the Norwegian continental shelf.
Late in the evening on Wednesday, October 16, the very first oil arrived at the plant at Mongstad.
- It’s a real “once in a lifetime” experience. I am very happy that everything has gone well and we have managed to do this without incident, says factory manager at Mongstad Rasmus F. Wille to Sysla.
It is expected that the plant at Mongstad will receive up to 440,000 barrels of oil per day from Johan Sverdrup when the first phase of the development produces fully.
When the second phase is completed in 2022, Mongstad will receive up to 660,000 barrels of oil per day, and when Sverdrup produces at its peak, Mongstad will receive more than 30 percent of the oil from the Norwegian continental shelf.
With oil from the Johan Sverdrup field, the number of ship calls at Mongstad increases from 1500 to the year to around 1700. When the second phase is completed, it is expected that the number of calls will exceed 2000 per year.
- This means a lot to the activity, and I feel that all the employees have a very large ownership of the project, says Wille.
