Italian oil company Eni is reportedly preparing to start oil production from its Goliat field, in the Barents Sea, in a few weeks after years of delay.
The Goliat field, originally scheduled to start in 2013, is the first offshore oil development in Norway’s Arctic region, in the Barents Sea. The field is estimated to hold about 174 million barrels of oil.
Reuters quoted Eni Norway’s spokesman, Andreas Wulff, as saying: “We had some delays due to bad weather, but we are planning to start the production in a few weeks.”
According to Eni, when the field starts producing, it will be the world’s northernmost producing offshore oilfield.
The field is being developed with a cylindrical floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit that arrived at the Goliat field location on May 7, 2015, after a short stop-over in the fjord outside Hammerfest. The Goliat FPSO was designed by the Norwegian company Sevan Marine in Arendal and built at the HHI yard in South Korea.
The Goliat field is located in production licence 229 (PL229). The licensees are Eni Norge AS (operator, 65%) and Statoil Petroleum AS (35%).
Offshore Energy Today reached out to Eni’s spokesperson seeking confirmation and more details on the project. However, we are yet to receive a response.
