Statoil has started production on the Gina Krog oil and gas field in the North Sea on Friday.

Statoil and the partners invest a total of around NOK 31 billion in the development of the Gina Krog field.

“We are proud to have delivered Gina Krog with a good HSE record and in line with the cost estimate in the plan for development and operation,” said Margareth Øvrum, Statoil’s executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling.

The Gina Krog platform is tied in to Sleipner A and uses both processing capacity on the platform and existing pipelines for sending the gas to the marked in Europe.

“This illustrates how we can maximize value creation and realize new projects on the NCS by utilizing existing infrastructure,” Øvrum said.

Oil from the field is transported by a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) which will be located on the field.

Gina Krog was initially a small-size gas discovery made in 1974. In 2007 and 2008 oil was struck, which shows the importance of near-field exploration, Statoil explained.

“We believe it is possible to maintain high levels of activity on the NCS up to, and beyond 2030. We have a very good infrastructure which we will leverage to add value for Statoil and society for a long time to come,” said Statoil’s executive vice president for Development and Production, Arne Sigve Nylund.

He added: “The field will be operated from Statoil’s Stavanger offices, whereas the helicopter and base services will be run from Sola and Dusavika.“