UPDATE: Valhall Field Back Online, Ramping Up - BP
June 18 2009 - 10:54AM
Dow Jones News
BP PLC (BP.LN) Thursday said it has restarted its Valhall field
in Norway after an extended outage to check and repair
microbial-induced corrosion on pipelines at the field.
"We are back on stream, started carefully Sunday night," said BP
spokesman Jan-Erik Geirmo. "It will still take some days until we
have normal production level," he added.
Valhall produces around 50,000-60,000 barrels of oil a day and
0.54 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
Valhall was forced to close April 2 for checks and maintenance
after BP found some corrosion in its produced water system. The
company has carried out a series of ultrasonic and radiographic
inspections and carried out repairs using biocides to remove the
bacteria.
BP Norway's chief executive, Trevor Garlick, called the outage
"disappointing" in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires earlier in
June.
Valhall is in the southern part of the North Sea and is routed
via a pipeline to the Ekofisk field from where it is piped to
Teesside in northeast England. The field is currently being
redeveloped to ensure it can produce for another 40 years. A new
field center is being built there, due to be operational in
2011.
BP, which operates Valhall, has a 28.09% stake in the field, as
do Enterprise Oil Norge and Hess Norge. Total SA (TOT) has a 15.72%
stake.
Company Web site: www.bp.com
-By Elizabeth Adams, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9386;
elizabeth.adams@dowjones.com