Germany's Wintershall Dea started production at its Nova oil and gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, the company said on Monday.
The subsea field, about 120 kilometers northwest of the city of Bergen, is tied-back to the Neptune Energy-operated Gjoea field, and holds about 90 million barrels of oil equivalent in recoverable reserves, mostly oil.
"This would be sufficient to cover Berlin's oil demand for more than five years... It (Nova) comes on stream at a time where Europe needs every additional barrel it can get," Wintershall Dea said in a statement.
The company did not say how much it planned to produce on a daily basis. It was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.
Crude oil from Nova will be transported via pipeline to the Mongstad terminal in Norway, while its associated natural gas will be piped to the St Fergus terminal in Britain.
Wintershall, which holds a 28% stake in Gjoea, also said Nova would increase Gjoea's lifetime and profitability, while being powered from shore to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during production.
Wintershall Dea and HitecVision-backed Norwegian oil firm Sval Energi each hold stakes of 45%, while Pandion Energy holds the remaining 10%.
In May, Norway's Okea said it had agreed to acquire a 7% stake in Nova from Wintershall Dea as part of a larger deal, but the transaction has yet to be completed.
Wintershall is majority owned by German chemicals group BASF.
(Reuters - Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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