Norway proposes development of Johan Castberg oil field in Barents Sea

OSLO, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The Norwegian government presented a proposal to parliament on Tuesday to develop the Johan Castberg oil field in the Barents Sea, with a planned production start date of the end of 2022.

"The development of the Johan Castberg field is a gigantic industrial project with good profitability," Norway's minister of petroleum and energy Terje Soviknes was quoted as saying in a statement.

Expected reserves for the Johan Castberg field is an estimated 558 million barrels of oil and the expected production period is 30 years, the Norwegian government said.

Total expected investments for the development are 47.2 billion Norwegian kroner (6.05 billion U.S. dollars) and the project is profitable with oil prices above 31 U.S. dollars per barrel, according to the statement.

A development plan for the Johan Castberg field was put forward to the authorities by Norwegian multinational oil and gas company Statoil in December 2017. As a large development project on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, it needs to be reviewed by parliament before being approved by the ministry of petroleum and energy.

"Statoil has, on behalf of the licensees, submitted a good plan for development and operation and the government recommends its approval," Soviknes said.

"The project brings new business opportunities for companies in the North," he said. "I strongly believe that oil and gas will become even more important to the northern parts of Norway in the future," he said. Enditem