Norwegian energy company Statoil said the first phase of development plans for the giant Johan Sverdrup oil field were approved by the government. “We are on schedule in the Johan Sverdrup development,” Oivind Reinersten, Statoil’s senior vice president for development, said in a statement. “The project activities will now be stepped up, and more contracts will be awarded in the autumn.” First oil is expected late 2019. Statoil said the first phase of operations at the offshore field should yield as much as 380,000 barrels of oil per day, roughly half of the expected peak production rate. A Norwegian metal worker in late June started cutting steel for the jacket, the tower support structure, for a riser platform used for Johan Sverdrup. At […]