BP Maintains Fourth-Quarter Production Start Target for Skarv

BP Plc (BP/) maintained plans to start output from the Skarv field in the Norwegian Sea in the fourth quarter after preparations were delayed by a 16-day strike by oil workers.

“We haven’t changed our estimate for when we plan to start production,” Jan Erik Geirmo, a spokesman for the company, said today by phone from Stavanger, on Norway’s west coast. “I can’t say if it will be the beginning, middle or end of the fourth quarter.”

Norway’s government ended the oil workers’ strike July 10 by ordering a compulsory arbitration. The labor action affected 15 percent of the country’s oil production and 7 percent of gas output, the Oil Industry Association said June 27.

BP operates the Skarv field with a 23.8 percent stake, while Statoil ASA (STL), Norway’s biggest producer, controls 36.2 percent. Estimated recoverable reserves are 409 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which three quarters are gas, according to BP’s website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mikael Holter in Oslo at mholter2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net