Norway's Equinor working to resume Sverdrup output after power failure

Norway's state-controlled Equinor is working to restore power and restart output at its flagship Johan Sverdrup field, source of a quarter of the country's oil production, following a power failure, it said Nov. 11.

A spokesperson told S&P Global Platts the field had been shut down due to a failure in the onshore power system that supplies the Sverdrup platform via a subsea cable from the coast.

Sverdrup production has ramped up to 535,000 b/d in recent months, making it by far the country's most prolific oil field and helping stem North Sea decline.

Sverdrup crude is not a component in the Platts Dated Brent crude benchmark, used by the industry worldwide, although it has been discussed as a candidate for inclusion.

"The good news is the power supply is back on shore. We are working to re-establish this power supply" at the field, a company spokesperson said, while declining to give a timeframe for resuming oil production.

On stream since 2019, Sverdrup is at the forefront of Norwegian efforts to cut emissions from the oil production process, and the sourcing of electricity from the hydropower-based national grid has been central to that effort.

As such the power outage is likely to come under widespread scrutiny as a test of things to come.

The offshore platform is connected to shore via a 200-kilometer cable from the loading terminal at Mongstad and cannot produce normally without this supply. Emergency power generation facilities are available to meet basic needs.

The Sverdrup facilities are due to become a conduit for power supplies to a swath of other North Sea fields once the second phase of the development comes on stream in the fourth quarter 2022.