SHELL TO DECLARE NORWAY'S DRAUGEN FIELD COMMERCIAL

  &lt;A/S Norske Shell>, Royal
  Dutch/Shell Group's &lt;RD.AS> Norwegian subsidiary, said it has
  nearly concluded a 10 billion crown development scheme for
  Norway's Draugen oil field and will declare the field
  commercial in the near future.
      Pending government approval of the scheme, the field could
  come on stream in 1992, making it Norway's northermost field
  development and the first such project on the Haltenbanken
  tract off central Norway.
      Work on the project could begin as early as January 1988, a
  Shell spokesman said.
      Shell has not released projected output levels for the
  field, where water depth is 240-270 meters.
      The spokesman said the field's partners have agreed to
  develop Draugen with a 300-meter, single-leg concrete
  gravity-base platform.
      The scheme also proposes using remote subsea production
  wells to tap the field's reservoir, estimated to contain 375
  mln barrels of oil, and an offshore buoy-loading system to
  transport oil from the field by ship.
      Partners on Draugen are Shell, the operator, with a 30 pct
  stake, British Petroleum Co Plc &lt;BP.L> unit &lt;BP Petroleum
  Development (Norway) Ltd> (20 pct) and state-owned Den Norske
  Stats Oljeselskap A/S &lt;STAT.OL> (Statoil) (50 pct).
  

