OSLO/LONDON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Norway's Johan Sverdrupfield could begin oil shipments in October, earlier than thescheduled November start, an Equinor spokesman said onFriday, adding that oil market participants had been notified.
The first loading programme for the giant Equinor-operatedJohan Sverdrup oil field in Norway lists 11 cargoes inOctober, a trading source said.
This implies that loadings from Johan Sverdrup, the largestNorth Sea discovery in more than three decades, will averagearound 226,000 barrels per day (bpd) in October.
The startup of production at Sverdrup will significantlyboost the region's crude shipments and is expected to impact oilprices as well as the cash flow of the field's owners.
"We've issued an early loading schedule that includesSverdrup cargoes for October," Equinor spokesman Morten Eeksaid. "Nothing would please us more than to see productionbefore November, although a November start-up remains ourprimary expectation."
Daily production from the field's first phase is projectedto reach peak output of 440,000 bpd of oil in summer 2020, andwill likely rise to a peak of 660,000 bpd once the second phasecomes on stream in late 2022, Equinor has said.
Shares of Aker BP and Lundin Petroleum, two of the partners in the Sverdrup licence, closed2.6% and 2.9% up respectively.
Equinor, the field's operator, gained 0.7% and Totalup 0.4%.(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo andNoah Browning in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and EdmundBlair)
BP (BP.)
