Polish state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG said on Wednesday that it had launched oil production on another field on the Norwegian continental shelf despite falling crude prices
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd April, 2020) Polish state-controlled oil and gas company PGNiG said on Wednesday that it had launched oil production on another field on the Norwegian continental shelf despite falling crude prices.
Earlier this week, the price of WTI front-month futures became negative for the first time in history, collapsing by the end of trading by 300 percent to minus $37.63 per barrel. Meanwhile, the price of June futures for WTI crude dropped on Tuesday by 43.4 percent to $11.57 per barrel, falling as low as $6.55 per barrel during the session.
"PGNiG Upstream Norway has started production from yet another field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The licence partners, including AkerBP as an operator and PGNiG as a partner, have brought on stream the first production well in the Ærfugl field, with further wells planned to start production later this year," the company's press release said.
According to the company, the output from Ærfugl is profitable at oil prices above $15 per barrel, as production wells can be connected to the existing Skarv FPSO vessel, which will significantly reduce field development costs. Therefore, the company decided to "proceed with the start-up despite the challenging market environment driven by subdued hydrocarbon prices."
The Ærfugl gas and condensate field's recoverable reserves are estimated at 300 million barrels of oil equivalent. After launching the output, the number of PGNiG Upstream Norway's producing fields has increased to seven.
