Equinor fully restores output from Sverdrup oilfield, western Europe’s largest

Equinor fully restores output from Sverdrup oilfield, western Europe’s largest

Output from Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield, western Europe’s largest, has been fully restored, a spokesperson for the Norwegian firm said on Friday.

The North Sea field, which has an output capacity of around 535,000 barrels of oil per day, suffered a power outage on Thursday, triggering a shutdown.

The power supply to the Sverdrup oil platforms, which comes via a subsea cable from land, was restored on Thursday evening.

Output reached full capacity at around midnight local time (2300 GMT), some 12 hours after the outage began, the spokesperson said.

Sverdrup, which began production in 2019, is one of a growing number of Norwegian oilfields powered by electricity from shore, unlike many older fields which use natural gas and diesel generators for operations on-site.

Operator Equinor holds a 42.6% stake in Sverdrup, Lundin Energy has 20%, Norwegian state-owned firm Petoro holds 17.36%, Aker BP owns 11.57% and TotalEnergies has 8.44%.

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Published: 12-11-2021