BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13. Equinor has announced that the 5,000th oil cargo has been exported from the Gullfaks field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, marking another milestone in the field’s long production history, Trend reports.
When production began in 1986, Gullfaks was originally expected to remain operational until 2007. However, more than two decades later, the field continues to deliver weekly shipments to international markets, with the majority of volumes supplied to Europe.
Since start-up, Gullfaks has produced approximately 2.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent, nearly double initial estimates. The field also functions as an export hub for production from nearby assets, including the Snorre and Visund fields, as well as multiple subsea developments in the region.
Gullfaks crude is characterized by its light quality and low sulphur content, making it suitable for refining into high-value products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG and naphtha. Deliveries are made to refineries across Sweden, the United Kingdom and Poland, supporting fuel supply chains for transport, industry and households.
The 5,000th cargo was delivered to the St1 refinery in Gothenburg, where it is processed into a range of fuels distributed through approximately 1,150 retail stations across Finland, Sweden and Norway. Additional shipments are also sent to refineries in the UK and Poland, as well as occasionally to Equinor’s Mongstad refinery in Norway.
Oil from Gullfaks is transported using shuttle tankers with a capacity of around 800,000 barrels, enabling flexible logistics between the Norwegian continental shelf and European buyers.
Gullfaks production began with the Gullfaks A platform in 1986, followed by Gullfaks B in 1988 and Gullfaks C in 1989. The field ranks as Norway’s seventh-largest oil and gas field by original reserves, following giants such as Troll, Statfjord, Ekofisk, Oseberg, Åsgard and Johan Sverdrup.
Production peaked in 1994, while last year the field and its associated subsea assets produced just over 17 million barrels of oil. Part of the platform’s energy needs are now supplied by electricity from the floating offshore wind farm Hywind Tampen, reflecting growing integration of renewable power in offshore operations.
