Equinor expects to recoup Martin Linge costs in full this year

Norway's Equinor expects to fully recoup its investments in the recently-commissioned Martin Linge field this year, on the back of high oil and gas prices, it said on January 27.

Martin Linge finally came on stream in June 2021, following years of delays and cost overruns. Its capital expense ended up at 63bn kroner ($7.3bn), or double the cost envisaged when development plans were filed in 2012.

Equinor CEO Anders Opedal noted that Martin Linge had been a challenging project to bring on stream, but said the field was now producing very efficiently, describing its performance as "world-class."

"With current prices, investments in the field will be recovered in full during 2022," he said.

Equinor expects the field to reach its plateau production rate of around 115,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day later this year. A total of 260mn boe of mostly gas is expected to be recovered during the project's lifetime.

Martin Linge's former operator TotalEnergies had hoped to launch the field in 2016. But a range of factors led to delays, from the field's difficult geology, and a fatal crane crash at the Korean shipyard tasked with building its rig, to drilling setbacks and the coronavirus pandemic.

Equinor operates the field with a 70% interest, having replaced TotalEnergies in 2018. The remaining 30% is held by Petoro, another state-owned Norwegian company.