Eni Starts Arctic Oil Field Mired in Delays, Cost Overruns
- Project investments have risen almost 50% from initial plan
- Eni, partner Statoil embark on at least 15 years of production
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Goliat, the first oil field to start output in Norway’s Arctic waters, has been a giant headache for Eni SpA.
Production, which finally began late Saturday, has been delayed by more than two years and investments have escalated to about 47 billion kroner ($5.6 billion), almost 50 percent more than the initial plan. The field, holding about 180 million barrels of recoverable oil, is also starting at a bad time, with crude prices at about $40 a barrel after the worst market slump in a generation.