The startup of oil production from Equinor's Arctic Johan Castberg field has been delayed again due to bad weather, a spokesperson for the Norwegian energy company said on Monday.
Castberg is set to become the second producing oilfield in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea after Vaar Energi's Goliat that came on stream in 2016.
Equinor had previously said it planned to start the field by the end of February, after postponing its startup from the end of 2024.
"We are in the final stretch, but have faced challenges with the weather, which is causing problems for both vessel and helicopter traffic," a spokesperson for the company said in an email to Reuters.
The Castberg field is estimated to hold some 450 million-650 million barrels of recoverable oil and its floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has a capacity to produce 220,000 barrels per day.
Equinor also said it expected Castberg to serve as a hub for producing hydrocarbons from some smaller discoveries nearby.
Equinor operates the Castberg field and owns 50%, while Vaar Energi, controlled by Eni, and Norway's Petoro have 30% and 20%, respectively.
Originally, Castberg was expected to start in 2022, but the construction of its FPSO was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
(Reuters - Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, Editing by Terje Solsvik)