Production start at Gullfaks C

Equinor’s website states that Gullfaks C began production on November 4, 1989. But newspaper reports and internal Statoil magazines say the production start on Gullfaks C was in December. More precisely, the production start was marked on December 18, at the same time as the Veslefrikk field, while actual production began over the Christmas holiday, a few days later.[REMOVE]Fotnote: “Gullfaks,” Equinor, https://www.equinor.com/no/energi/gullfaks, accessed January 28, 2025; Rogalands Avis, “Gullfaks C og Veslefrikk i produksjon,” December 19, 1989, 13, Nasjonalbiblioteket; Aktuelt: Intern informasjon for Statoil i Bergen, no. 27/89, December 21, year 3 (1989), “GFC og VFR i mål: Dobbeltstart for DDB,” 1.

Why is the date so unclear?

Dry well

The journal Byggenytt wrote that Gullfaks C was scheduled to be brought on stream in November.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Byggenytt (Oslo: 1962: trykt utg.) / Norwegian Building News, 1989, vol. 34, nos. 9/10, “Gullfaks C-plattformen settes i drift i november,” 7 and 43, Nasjonalbiblioteket.On November 4, oil reached the deck on Gullfaks C. The problem was that the first well was dry, and therefore only yielded a limited, small volume.

Author and long-time Statoil employee Bjørn Vidar Lerøen concludes that preparations for the production start on Gullfaks C turned into a real struggle, and that the dry well confirmed the challenging geology on the Gullfaks field.

It was not welcome news, but the team knew the oil was there, and they began preparing for an even more complex task: producing from a faulted and fractured reservoir, according to Jakob Bleie, who at the time was Statoil’s Deputy Managing Director for Exploration & Production (E&P).[REMOVE]Fotnote: Bjørn Vidar Lerøen, 34/10: olje på norsk. En historie om dristighet (Stavanger: Statoil, 2006), 105–6.

Ceremonial vs. actual production start

On December 18, 1989, the County Governor of Hordaland, Håkon Randal, pressed the button that started oil production on Gullfaks C. The same day, a similar ceremony was held on the Veslefrikk platforms, where the County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane, Ingvald Ulveseth, officiated.

Several newspapers covered the event, and all stressed that the “opening” on December 18 was ceremonial only. Actual production would first begin over the Christmas holiday—specifically on Christmas Eve, 1989.

Gullfaks C thus ended up with a production start almost exactly three years after Gullfaks A, which began production on 23 December 1986. As it turned out, Gullfaks C also started up a half year earlier than originally planned – something the youngest Gullfaks platform had in common with the oldest.