The Johan Sverdrup oilfield offshore Norway, the largest oilfield in Western Europe, resumed production early on Tuesday after shutting down due to a power outage on Monday.
As of Tuesday midday local time, Johan Sverdrup, with a capacity to pump 755,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) at peak production levels, had restored output and reached two-thirds of capacity, a spokesperson for the operator, Equinor, told Reuters.
Production at the huge oilfield in the North Sea was shut down on Monday, following an onshore power outage. Oil prices spiked by $2 a barrel on the news, but later eased and gave up the gains early on Tuesday.
Equinor said the power outage halted electricity supply to the offshore platforms. The company immediately began working on the converter station.
Johan Sverdrup is the biggest producing oil field in Western Europe. It began producing in 2019 and its peak output is seen either this year or next. The peak production level is seen at 755,000 barrels daily, which is significantly higher than initial peak output expectations of 660,000 bpd. The peak output was hit for the first time this September when Johan Sverdrup produced 756,000 bpd. The field’s output alone accounts for a third of Norway’s total oil production.
Johan Sverdrup is estimated to have reserves of 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalents, and the entire field is now in production. Phase One of Johan Sverdrup was put online in October 2019, and Phase Two came on stream in December 2022.
Thanks to high levels of electrification, Johan Sverdrup has some of the lowest CO2 emissions of any oil field in the world, according to Equinor.
One barrel of oil produced at Sverdrup emits 0.67 kg of CO2 per barrel of produced oil, compared to the global average is 15 kg per barrel. This is mainly due to power from shore, the Norwegian firm says.
