Norway's Aasta Hansteen natural gas field surpassed its peak production capacity several times, Reuters reported Sept. 11, citing project operator Equinor ASA and pipeline operator Gassco As.
Located in the Norwegian Sea's Vøring area, Aasta Hansteen and the adjacent Snefrid Nord field were expected to produce a maximum of 23 million cubic meters of gas per day, but the two fields have reached 25 million cubic meters per day on multiple occasions, the operators told Reuters. Snefrid Nord is the first field tied back to Aasta Hansteen.
Gassco is now using 25 million cubic meters per day as a guideline for its published annual maintenance planning for Aasta Hansteen through 2020, Reuters said.
The Aasta Hansteen and Snefrid Nord fields feed gas into the Polarled pipeline for transport to Royal Dutch Shell PLC's Nyhamna plant in Aukra, Norway. The gas is exported to the U.K. and then sent to other parts of Europe.
The combined reserves of the fields are estimated at 55.6 billion standard cubic meters of gas and 0.6 million cubic meters of condensate, according to Reuters.
Equinor operates the Aasta Hansteen field with a 51% stake, while Wintershall Dea GmbH has a 24% interest. OMV AG owns a 15% stake and ConocoPhillips holds a 10% interest.
