OREANDA-NEWS. Total announces the start-up of oil production from the Ekofisk South project in the Norwegian part of the North Sea on October, 25 approximately two months ahead of schedule. The project will increase oil recovery in the Ekofisk field, located in the PL 018 license where Total holds a 39.9% interest.

The production capacity at the Ekofisk South platform is 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. The project includes the drilling of 35 new production wells and eight injection wells.

The plan for development and operation of the Ekofisk South project was approved by the Norwegian Parliament in June 2011, together with the plan for the nearby Eldfisk II project in the same license, where production start-up is scheduled for early 2015.

“Ekofisk came on stream in 1971 and is still one of the largest oil fields in Norway. The Ekofisk South project is an important building block to extend the lifespan of Ekofisk for some 40 further years. This start-up, together with those of Eldfisk II in 2015 and Martin Linge in late 2016, will significantly increase Total's production in Norway by 2017”, said Patrice de Vivies, Total's Senior Vice President Exploration & Production, Northern Europe. “Ekofisk South is also the first in a series of major start-ups that will contribute to the Group's objective to grow its production potential to 3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2017”.

Ekofisk was discovered in 1969 and is located approximately 300 kilometers off the Norwegian coast.

The PL 018 partners are Total (39.9%), ConocoPhillips (35.11%, operator), Eni (12.39%), Statoil (7.6%) and Petoro (5%).

Total Exploration & Production in Norway

Since the late 1960s, the Total Group has played a major role in development of a large number of Norwegian fields, notably Frigg and Heimdal. Norway was one of the largest contributors to the Group's equity production in 2012 with 275,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day. Total holds interests in 100 production licenses in offshore Norway, 29 as operator.

In January 2012, Total submitted the plan for development and operation for the Martin Linge field, a stand-alone field development planned to come on stream in Q4 2016. The plan was approved by the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) in June 2012.

In October 2012, the Group started-up its Atla gas condensate field located in license PL 102C in the Norwegian North Sea. Atla was brought into production two years after its discovery.