This week a successful capacity test has been performed confirming that the Johan Sverdrup field in Norway can produce up to 755,000 barrels of oil per day.

During a capacity test at Johan Sverdrup, the field reached a record-high production level of 755,000 barrels of oil per day.

This equals to 6 to 7 per cent of the daily European oil consumption.

“This process capacity test at Johan Sverdrup confirms technically very robust facilities and was safely performed with no unwanted incidents. This is an important milestone, and the result of systematic and targeted efforts,” says Marianne Bjelland, vice president Exploration and Production for Johan Sverdrup in Equinor.

Equinor and partners Aker BP, Petoro and TotalEnergies aim to maintain production levels of oil from the field up towards this level going forward.

In addition, Johan Sverdrup produces 31,500 barrels of oil equivalents of gas per day.

Johan Sverdrup facts

Johan Sverdrup has reserves of 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalents. Phase one opened in October 2019, phase two started producing in December 2022.

The field is located in the area of Utsirahøyden in the North Sea, 160 kilometres west of Stavanger, at depths of 110-120 metres, covering an acreage of 200 square kilometres. It was originally expected to produce 660,000 barrels of oil per day at plateau, about a third of Norwegian oil production at the current level.

The field is calculated to generate more than 3400 jobs each year, and the production from the field has already contributed significantly to the state through taxes and direct ownership, estimated in total at about 900 billion Norwegian kroner over the field’s lifespan.

Johan Sverdrup produces at some of the lowest CO2 emissions of any oil field in the world, at 80 to 90 per cent lower than the global average.