Ekofisk is an oil field in the
Norwegian sector of the
North Sea about southwest of
Stavanger. Discovered in 1969 after the construction of a series of off-shore platforms by
Phillips Petroleum Company. Oil production is planned to continue until at least 2050.
Ekofisk reservoir consists of Cod, Ekofisk, West Ekofisk, Tor, Albuskjell, Eldfisk, Edda and Embla oil fields. The Ekofisk Center is a vast complex of platforms and structures creating a transportation hub also for surrounding fields such as
Valhall, Hod,
Gyda,
Ula,
Statfjord,
Heimdal, Tommeliten and
Gullfaks. The whole complex consists of 29 platforms. Produced oil is transported by the
Norpipe oil pipeline to the ConocoPhillips
Teeside Terminal in the
United Kingdom. Natural gas is transported by the
Norpipe gas pipeline to
Emden in
Germany.
Subsidence
In the mid-1980s the Ekofisk field as a whole and the platforms in particular were found to be suffering from an unexpected degree of
subsidence. Detailed geological investigation showed that it was the result of delayed compactional
diagenesis of the
Chalk Formation reservoir rocks. As hydrocarbons were produced and replaced with water, the Chalk began to...
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