Norwegian oil output lower for at least 'a few days'

Norwegian oil production will be affected for at least "a few days" by the suspension of production at a North Sea platform that accounts for 8.0 percent of the country's daily output, the state-owned oil group Statoil said yesterday. On Thursday, the group suspended production after corrosion was found in the tank of a gas treatment system. In addition to 120,000 barrels of oil per day, the Troll C platform produces 10.5 million cubic meters (371 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day as well. The volumes include oil and gas from the Fram field, which is connected to Troll C. Total Norwegian oil production reached 1,473 million barrels per day in October. Yesterday, Statoil said that corrosion had also been found in another gas treatment system during a follow-up investigation. "In a few days, we will be able to give more information on the expected duration of production halt," the group said in a statement. "We need to determine the scope of the work required before we can say anything about the timing," spokesman Ola Anders Skauby told AFP. The platform is one of three production facilities — Troll A, B and C — in the Troll field, the Scandinavian country's largest oil reserve. Statoil holds a 30.58 percent stake in the project, together with publicly owned Petoro (56 percent), Anglo-Dutch Shell (8.1 percent), France's Total (3.7 percent) and US-based ConocoPhillips (1.6 percent), according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The adjacent Fram field is covered by a separate production license, held by Statoil (45 percent), US oil major ExxonMobil (25 percent), and France's GDF Suez and Idemitsu of Japan (15 percent each).