EQNR Equinor ASA

By Kjetil Malkenes Hovland

OSLO--Norway's Statoil said Friday it had submitted a plan to the Norwegian government for the NOK1 billion ($121.84 million) Byrding oil and gas project in the North Sea, its second such plan this month, a sign that significant cost cuts are boosting the profitability of minor projects.

"Byrding shows that successful improvement efforts in Statoil, and in this case particularly within drilling and well, allow new development projects to be realized," said Torger Rod, Statoil's head of project development.

Statoil said the cost of the project, set to hold 11 million barrels of oil equivalent, had been reduced from NOK3.5 billion to NOK1 billion. Byrding is set to produce 8,000 barrels a day at its peak, and will connect to the existing Troll C platform, helping to boost its activity and production.

The company said Byrding, which was formerly known as Astero, would be profitable even at today's oil prices.

Statoil last week handed in the plan to Norwegian and U.K. authorities to develop the Utgard field, a 3.5-billion-krone project straddling the U.K.-Norway median line in the North Sea.

Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at kjetilmalkenes.hovland@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 19, 2016 06:01 ET (10:01 GMT)

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