Who operates the Gullfaks field?

Gullfaks is operated by Equinor Energy AS, in partnership with Petoro AS, OMV Norge AS.

How much does Gullfaks produce?

24,921 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.6% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 38 of 94 producing fields.

When did Gullfaks start producing?

First production was reported in 1986, 8 years after discovery well 34/10-1 proved the field in 1978.

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.

Gullfaks field

Gullfaks is producing 24,921 barrels of oil equivalent a day — 0.6% of everything the Norwegian Continental Shelf produced in May 2026, ranking 38 of the 94 fields in production.

Production

24,921 boe/d

Share of NCS

0.6%

Operator

Equinor Energy AS

First oil

1986

What it produces

In May 2026 the field delivered 24,921 barrels of oil equivalent a day, classified by the directorate as oil — almost entirely oil. Output has moved up 4.7% over the past twelve months, and the directorate's profile for the field is mature. The field's best year was 1994, averaging 572,272 boe/d — today it runs at 4% of that.

Since 1986, Gullfaks has produced roughly 2,573 million barrels of oil equivalent in total. The directorate's estimate of recoverable resources is 2,639 million boe, of which about 97% has now been recovered; 67 million boe remained as of 31.12.2025.

The story of Gullfaks

Gullfaks was the first field developed under all-Norwegian ownership — Statoil, Norsk Hydro and Saga Petroleum, with no foreign companies in the licence — and it became the proving ground for a generation of Norwegian operators and engineers. Three concrete platforms came on stream between 1986 and 1990.

Timeline

1899
34/7 Hy06 (offshore wind turbine) enters service
1899
34/7 Hy08 (offshore wind turbine) enters service
1899
34/7 Hy09 (offshore wind turbine) enters service
1978
Proven by exploration well 34/10-1
1986
Gullfaks A on stream — the all-Norwegian licence delivers
1988
Gullfaks B (condeep 4 shafts) enters service
1989
Gullfaks C (condeep 4 shafts) enters service
1994
Best year to date — 572,272 boe/d
2014
Gullfaks Ols-1 (loading system) enters service
2014
Gullfaks Ols-2 (loading system) enters service
2022
34/7 Hy07 (offshore wind turbine) enters service
2023
34/7 Hy05 (offshore wind turbine) enters service

Production by year, 1986–2026

OilGasNGL/condensateboe/d

Full table, year by year

Year	Oil	Gas	NGL	Total boe/d
1986	767	0	0	767
1987	69,276	2,094	289	71,659
1988	148,468	9,994	1,377	159,838
1989	266,937	18,257	2,604	287,797
1990	255,556	17,317	2,499	275,372
1991	343,050	22,572	4,092	369,714
1992	430,111	30,924	5,797	466,832
1993	494,181	35,657	8,523	538,360
1994	529,795	34,750	7,727	572,272
1995	484,088	32,280	6,515	522,882
1996	437,293	30,467	3,471	471,231
1997	415,679	29,022	3,258	447,959
1998	342,156	25,082	4,199	371,436
1999	297,736	16,683	2,837	317,256
2000	228,091	15,501	2,779	246,371
2001	181,496	14,254	3,390	199,138
2002	158,727	10,427	2,802	171,956
2003	163,819	10,714	4,350	178,883
2004	166,913	9,944	3,993	180,849
2005	143,833	7,712	3,742	155,288
2006	110,796	8,494	3,371	122,660
2007	95,820	4,067	4,430	104,316
2008	91,179	5,727	5,535	102,441
2009	80,821	3,922	1,254	85,997
2010	68,232	1,548	516	70,296
2011	45,892	0	0	45,892
2012	43,602	0	0	43,602
2013	44,255	0	0	44,255
2014	36,816	0	0	36,816
2015	36,159	0	0	36,159
2016	39,171	0	0	39,171
2017	35,211	0	0	35,211
2018	46,107	0	0	46,107
2019	47,472	0	0	47,472
2020	41,388	0	0	41,388
2021	29,919	0	0	29,919
2022	28,061	0	0	28,061
2023	23,043	0	0	23,043
2024	22,120	0	0	22,120
2025	22,944	0	0	22,944
2026	22,935	0	0	22,935

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 34/10-1 in 1978. The directorate's wellbore register lists 358 wellbores on Gullfaks: 32 exploration and 326 development. The deepest reaches 7,928 metres measured depth. Water depth at the field's installations is 133 to 340 metres.

Installations on Gullfaks

34/7 Hy05Offshore Wind Turbine2023
34/7 Hy06Offshore Wind Turbine1899
34/7 Hy07Offshore Wind Turbine2022
34/7 Hy08Offshore Wind Turbine1899
34/7 Hy09Offshore Wind Turbine1899
Gullfaks ACondeep 4 Shafts1986
Gullfaks BCondeep 4 Shafts1988
Gullfaks CCondeep 4 Shafts1989
Gullfaks Ols-1Loading System2014
Gullfaks Ols-2Loading System2014

The first of them entered service in 1899. The field also has 2 subsea structures — wellheads and templates on the seabed — which are drawn individually on the map.

Licence partners

Equinor Energy AS51.00%
Petoro AS30.00%
OMV Norge AS19.00%

The field sits in blocks 34/10, under production licences PL 050, PL 050 B.

Questions people ask

Who operates the Gullfaks field?: Gullfaks is operated by Equinor Energy AS, in partnership with Petoro AS, OMV Norge AS.
How much does Gullfaks produce?: 24,921 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.6% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 38 of 94 producing fields.
When did Gullfaks start producing?: First production was reported in 1986, 8 years after discovery well 34/10-1 proved the field in 1978.

See it live

Gullfaks 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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