Who operates the Alve field?

Alve is operated by Equinor Energy AS, in partnership with DNO Norge AS, ORLEN Upstream Norway AS.

How much does Alve produce?

23,984 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.6% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 39 of 94 producing fields.

When did Alve start producing?

First production was reported in 2009, 19 years after discovery well 6507/3-1 proved the field in 1990.

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.

Alve field

Alve is producing 23,984 barrels of oil equivalent a day — 0.6% of everything the Norwegian Continental Shelf produced in May 2026, ranking 39 of the 94 fields in production.

Production

23,984 boe/d

Share of NCS

0.6%

Operator

Equinor Energy AS

First oil

2009

What it produces

In May 2026 the field delivered 23,984 barrels of oil equivalent a day, classified by the directorate as gas/condensate — roughly 10% oil and 82% gas by energy content. Output has moved up 96.1% over the past twelve months, and the directorate's profile for the field is growing. The field's best year was 2009, averaging 25,361 boe/d — today it runs at 95% of that.

Since 2009, Alve has produced roughly 99 million barrels of oil equivalent in total. The directorate's estimate of recoverable resources is 113 million boe, of which about 88% has now been recovered; 18 million boe remained as of 31.12.2025.

Timeline

1990
Proven by exploration well 6507/3-1
2009
First production reported
2009
Best year to date — 25,361 boe/d

Production by year, 2009–2026

OilGasNGL/condensateboe/d

Full table, year by year

Year	Oil	Gas	NGL	Total boe/d
2009	4,459	15,515	5,386	25,361
2010	4,200	14,458	4,982	23,640
2011	5,488	12,866	4,647	23,001
2012	4,184	8,677	3,205	16,066
2013	2,340	5,488	1,985	9,813
2014	3,180	9,294	3,170	15,644
2015	2,618	7,906	2,748	13,272
2016	2,517	7,658	2,671	12,846
2017	3,029	13,198	4,311	20,538
2018	2,355	10,976	3,864	17,197
2019	1,518	9,872	3,398	14,788
2020	775	7,010	2,327	10,112
2021	801	7,502	2,177	10,481
2022	1,070	9,079	2,006	12,156
2023	1,430	10,074	2,339	13,843
2024	1,001	8,284	2,013	11,297
2025	906	8,983	1,569	11,457
2026	1,900	19,231	1,806	22,936

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 6507/3-1 in 1990. The directorate's wellbore register lists 10 wellbores on Alve: 4 exploration and 6 development. The deepest reaches 6,137 metres measured depth. Water depth at the field's installations is 390 metres.

Installations on Alve

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

Licence partners

Equinor Energy AS53.00%
DNO Norge AS32.00%
ORLEN Upstream Norway AS15.00%

The field sits in block 6507/3, under production licence PL 159 B.

Questions people ask

Who operates the Alve field?: Alve is operated by Equinor Energy AS, in partnership with DNO Norge AS, ORLEN Upstream Norway AS.
How much does Alve produce?: 23,984 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.6% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 39 of 94 producing fields.
When did Alve start producing?: First production was reported in 2009, 19 years after discovery well 6507/3-1 proved the field in 1990.

See it live

Alve 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.

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