Who operates the Ærfugl Nord field?

Ærfugl Nord is operated by Aker BP ASA, in partnership with Equinor Energy AS, Harbour Energy Norge AS, ORLEN Upstream Norway AS.

How much does Ærfugl Nord produce?

3,205 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.1% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 74 of 94 producing fields.

When did Ærfugl Nord start producing?

First production was reported in 2021, 9 years after discovery well 6507/3-9 S proved the field in 2012.

What is the Norwegian Continental Shelf?

The Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) is the seabed area where Norway holds sovereign rights over petroleum resources, covering the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea. It holds roughly 90 producing fields, and its output is the largest single source of Norway's export income.

What does NCS Live show?

Every in-service surface installation and subsea structure on the shelf, the offshore pipeline network, field outlines and seabed relief, with live vessel traffic and offshore helicopter flights on top of them. Optional layers add seismic survey activity, cold-water coral, wind and wave forecasts, and a counter for the value each field is producing today.

Where does the data come from?

Infrastructure, fields and production come from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (Sokkeldirektoratet) FactPages under the NLOD licence. Vessel positions are AIS from BarentsWatch and Kystverket. Helicopter movements are derived from Avinor flight data. Coral observations come from the Institute of Marine Research and MAREANO, and export prices from Statistics Norway (SSB).

Is the vessel traffic real time?

Yes. Tankers and offshore support vessels are drawn from live AIS positions and refreshed continuously, with speed, course and self-reported destination. Helicopter positions are dead-reckoned estimates between known departures and arrivals, not surveillance.

Are the pipeline flows measured?

No. Pipeline thickness and the travelling flow animation are estimates, derived by accumulating monthly field production through the pipeline network. They are not metered throughput, and thickness is not pipe diameter.

Can I see how the shelf was built out?

Yes. The time machine replays the shelf from 1971, the year Ekofisk started producing, to today. Installations and pipelines appear in the year they entered service, with total production and the number of producing fields for each year.

Is NCS Live free to use?

Yes, free and with no account. It is a public visualisation of open data, built and designed by Smpl and Melvær&Co in Norway.

Ærfugl Nord field

Ærfugl Nord is producing 3,205 barrels of oil equivalent a day — 0.1% of everything the Norwegian Continental Shelf produced in May 2026, ranking 74 of the 94 fields in production.

Production

3,205 boe/d

Share of NCS

0.1%

Operator

Aker BP ASA

First oil

2021

What it produces

In May 2026 the field delivered 3,205 barrels of oil equivalent a day, classified by the directorate as gas/condensate — almost entirely gas. Output has moved down 66.0% over the past twelve months, and the directorate's profile for the field is declining. The field's best year was 2023, averaging 14,387 boe/d — today it runs at 22% of that.

Since 2021, Ærfugl Nord has produced roughly 14 million barrels of oil equivalent in total. The directorate's estimate of recoverable resources is 17 million boe, of which about 82% has now been recovered; 0 million boe remained as of 31.12.2025.

Timeline

2012
Proven by exploration well 6507/3-9 S
2021
First production reported
2023
Best year to date — 14,387 boe/d

Production by year, 2021–2026

OilGasNGL/condensateboe/d

Full table, year by year

Year	Oil	Gas	NGL	Total boe/d
2021	-55	421	49	415
2022	1,066	11,516	1,251	13,832
2023	928	12,134	1,326	14,387
2024	299	6,592	768	7,659
2025	218	719	77	1,014
2026	169	2,617	353	3,139

Average daily rates per calendar year, from Sokkeldirektoratet's monthly production figures. The final year is the average through May 2026.

Discovery and drilling

The field was proven by exploration well 6507/3-9 S in 2012. The directorate's wellbore register lists 3 wellbores on Ærfugl Nord: 1 exploration and 2 development. The deepest reaches 3,827 metres measured depth. Water depth at the field's installations is 368 metres.

Installations on Ærfugl Nord

The field also has 1 subsea structures — wellheads and templates on the seabed — which are drawn individually on the map.

Licence partners

Equinor Energy AS30.00%
Aker BP ASA30.00%
Harbour Energy Norge AS28.08%
ORLEN Upstream Norway AS11.92%

The field sits in block 6507/3, under production licence PL 212 E.

Questions people ask

Who operates the Ærfugl Nord field?: Ærfugl Nord is operated by Aker BP ASA, in partnership with Equinor Energy AS, Harbour Energy Norge AS, ORLEN Upstream Norway AS.
How much does Ærfugl Nord produce?: 3,205 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.1% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 74 of 94 producing fields.
When did Ærfugl Nord start producing?: First production was reported in 2021, 9 years after discovery well 6507/3-9 S proved the field in 2012.

See it live

Ærfugl Nord is drawn on the NCS Live map with its outline, its pipelines and the vessels working it in real time — and på norsk. The directorate's own record is on the SODIR FactPages.

Other fields in the Norwegian sea

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