Our share of the area's production in 2008 was 355 mbbl per day of oil, condensate and NGL, and 19 mmcm per day (682 mmcf per day) of gas, or 477 mboe per day in total. Operations West is the leading oil producing area on the NCS and, even after 20 years of production, we believe there are still substantial opportunities for increased value creation.

We have taken several initiatives to identify and implement measures to increase and prolong production from the Operations West area. These initiatives involve a combination of cost reductions and IOR, and they have resulted in a prolongation of planned production beyond the current licence period for several of the fields.

In 2008, Operation West performed five turnarounds within the scheduled time frame and without severe HSE incidents.

The Gimle field is a Gullfaks satellite field that is operated as a separate Unit. Permanent production started in May 2006, converting the Gimle exploration well drilled from the Gullfaks C platform into a production well. By the end of 2008, Gimle consisted of two producers and one injector, all drilled as long-reach wells from the Gullfaks C platform.

Due to high depletion of the reservoir, production from Gullfaks South, Statfjord reservoir was temporarily shut down in October 2008. Production will be resumed when a new water injection well has been drilled.

Gullfaks has been developed with three large concrete production platforms. Oil is loaded directly into custom-built shuttle tankers on the field. Associated gas is piped to the Kårstø gas processing plant and then on to continental Europe. Four satellite fields, Gullfaks South, Rimfaks, Gullveig and Skinfaks, have been developed with subsea wells remotely controlled from the Gullfaks A and C platforms.

Gulltopp. A long-reach well has been drilled from the Gullfaks A-platform to develop the Gulltopp field. Gulltopp, which was discovered in 2002, is a small oilfield. Due to several operational problems, the well was temporarily plugged in the third quarter of 2006. Drilling resumed in October 2007, and the well was started up in 2008, producing considerably more than initially estimated.

The Oseberg area includes the main Oseberg field developed with Field Centre installations and the Oseberg C production platform, and two satellite fields, Oseberg East and Oseberg South, developed with production platforms. In addition, the Tune field and Oseberg West Flank have been developed with subsea installations and tied back to the Oseberg Field Centre. Oil and gas from the satellites is piped to the Oseberg Field Centre for processing and transportation. Oil is exported to shore through the Oseberg transportation system, and gas is exported through the Oseberg gas transportation system to Heimdal and on to market.

Oseberg Delta is a subsea gas and oil development of the resources in the Delta structure in block 30/9 that makes use of Oseberg Field Centre facilities for processing and export. Production started in June 2008.

Oseberg Gamma Statfjord is developed with two wells from Oseberg B. Oil production started in April, and water injection commenced in August 2008.

Theta Cook was drilled as an exploration well from Oseberg C, converted directly into an oil producer and started in June 2008.

Oseberg Field Centre celebrated 20 years of production in December 2008.

The PL 089 asset includes the Vigdis, Borg and Tordis fields. The Tordis field and the southern part of the Borg field have been developed with seven subsea satellites and two templates tied back to Gullfaks C, where the oil and gas is processed and stored for offshore loading and export. A subsea separator, boosting and injection unit was installed on Tordis in 2007 (Tordis SSBI), and most of the water from Tordis was injected through a dedicated water injection well into the Utsira formation.

A leakage of produced water through the seabed was observed in May 2008, and the water injector was shut down, resulting in reduced production from Tordis. The Tordis SSBI is planned to be started up in late 2009 or early 2010 with an alternative solution for produced water disposal.

The Vigdis field was developed in 1997 with three subsea templates with a well stream through pipelines connected to Snorre A, where the oil is stabilised and exported to Gullfaks for storage and loading. The northern part of Borg is also produced via the Vigdis templates. The Vigdis Extension Phase 2 project was completed early in 2008.

The Snorre field has been developed with two platforms and one subsea production system connected to one of the platforms (Snorre A). Oil and gas is exported to Statfjord for final processing, storage and loading. One satellite field, Vigdis, has been developed with a subsea tie-back to Snorre A.

By July 2008 the Snorre field had produced 1000 mmboe of oil since field start-up.

Inspection revealed internal damage to three risers on Snorre B in the autumn of 2008, resulting in shutdown of risers and reduced production. The risers are expected to be replaced in late 2009 or early 2010.

Statfjord has been developed with three fully-integrated platforms supported by gravity base structures featuring concrete storage cells. Each platform is tied to offshore loading systems for loading oil into tankers. Associated gas is piped through the Tampen link to the UK or, alternatively, to the Kårstø gas processing plant and then on to continental Europe. Three satellite fields (Statfjord North, Statfjord East and Sygna) have been developed, each of them tied back to the Statfjord C platform. In 2005, an amended PDO was approved by the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy for the late life production period for Statfjord. The ministry granted a licence extension for the Statfjord area from 2009 to 2026.

During modification work in the equipment shaft on 24 May 2008, an oil leakage occurred from hot-tap equipment . This resulted in an explosive atmosphere in parts of the shaft, and 50-70 cubic metres of oil was pumped to sea to avoid escalation. Most of the personnel on board were evacuated, and no personal injuries occurred.

Due to integrity problems, the Statfjord North Satellite injection facility was shut down in November 2008. The field's production is currently reduced and is expected to be shut in early 2009. Equipment will be replaced in 2009.