Operator Statoil and the other partners resolved today, 20 June, not to submit development plans for Snøhvit and associated fields in the Barents Sea to the authorities at present.
This decision by the management committee reflects lack of clarification over government terms relating to the division of revenues and taxes between offshore and land-based facilities.
The partners had aimed to submit plans this summer for development and operation (PDO) and installation and operation (PIO) covering Snøhvit, Askeladd and Albatross.
“Snøhvit demands the early investment of roughly NOK 40 billion, while revenues will be earned over 25 years,” says project director Snorre W Jensen.
“It’s accordingly been important for the licence to clarify framework conditions before reaching a decision on development and operation.”
Mr Jensen regrets that the project has been put on ice. “We’ve worked hard to realised Snøhvit,” he says.
Statoil will continue its dialogue with the authorities to find a solution which allows it to submit development and operational proposals for the fields to the other licensees.
Plans have called for Snøhvit to start production in late 2005 or early 2006. Subsea installations would be linked by pipeline to a gas treatment plant outside Hammerfest in northern Norway.
Apart from Statoil, with 22.29 per cent, partners in Snøhvit are Petoro (30 per cent), TotalFinaElf (18.4 per cent), Gaz de France (12 per cent), Norsk Hydro (10 per cent), Amerada Hess (3.26 per cent), RWE-DEA (2.81 per cent) and Svenska Petroleum (1.24 per cent).
See the press release from the licensees.