Who operates the Fram field?

Fram is operated by Equinor Energy AS, in partnership with Vår Energi ASA, INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS.

How much does Fram produce?

28,138 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.7% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 32 of 94 producing fields.

When did Fram start producing?

First production was reported in 2003, 13 years after discovery well 35/11-4 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.

Fram field

Fram is producing 28,138 barrels of oil equivalent a day — 0.7% of everything the Norwegian Continental Shelf produced in May 2026, ranking 32 of the 94 fields in production.

Production

28,138 boe/d

Share of NCS

0.7%

Operator

Equinor Energy AS

First oil

2003

What it produces

In May 2026 the field delivered 28,138 barrels of oil equivalent a day, classified by the directorate as oil/gas — roughly 43% oil and 53% gas by energy content. Output has moved down 16.9% over the past twelve months, and the directorate's profile for the field is declining. The field's best year was 2009, averaging 66,721 boe/d — today it runs at 42% of that.

Since 2003, Fram has produced roughly 377 million barrels of oil equivalent in total. The directorate's estimate of recoverable resources is 522 million boe, of which about 72% has now been recovered; 149 million boe remained as of 31.12.2025.

Timeline

1990
Proven by exploration well 35/11-4
2003
First production reported
2009
Best year to date — 66,721 boe/d

Production by year, 2003–2026

OilGasNGL/condensateboe/d

Full table, year by year

Year	Oil	Gas	NGL	Total boe/d
2003	11,952	0	0	11,952
2004	50,489	0	0	50,489
2005	32,072	0	0	32,072
2006	28,663	0	0	28,663
2007	45,506	1,171	63	46,740
2008	56,339	4,942	463	61,745
2009	58,258	7,294	1,170	66,721
2010	53,271	9,812	1,318	64,401
2011	48,279	9,924	1,326	59,528
2012	41,963	9,200	1,448	52,609
2013	41,835	10,448	1,616	53,897
2014	34,563	10,763	1,818	47,144
2015	25,381	10,883	1,388	37,652
2016	24,852	10,706	1,547	37,104
2017	29,473	12,549	2,276	44,297
2018	26,376	12,255	1,832	40,463
2019	29,577	12,512	2,048	44,137
2020	26,887	19,967	3,381	50,235
2021	21,236	18,499	2,882	42,618
2022	19,738	22,101	2,443	44,281
2023	15,070	17,120	2,459	34,649
2024	17,478	19,054	2,230	38,762
2025	13,429	15,485	1,192	30,107
2026	12,062	15,156	1,054	28,272

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 35/11-4 in 1990. The directorate's wellbore register lists 45 wellbores on Fram: 14 exploration and 31 development. The deepest reaches 6,466 metres measured depth. Water depth at the field's installations is 340 to 360 metres.

Installations on Fram

The field also has 6 subsea structures — wellheads and templates on the seabed — which are drawn individually on the map.

Licence partners

Equinor Energy AS45.00%
Vår Energi ASA40.00%
INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS15.00%

The field sits in blocks 31/2, 35/11, under production licences PL 090 E, PL 090 I, PL 090.

Questions people ask

Who operates the Fram field?: Fram is operated by Equinor Energy AS, in partnership with Vår Energi ASA, INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS.
How much does Fram produce?: 28,138 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.7% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 32 of 94 producing fields.
When did Fram start producing?: First production was reported in 2003, 13 years after discovery well 35/11-4 proved the field in 1990.

See it live

Fram 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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