Who operates the Vilje field?

Vilje is operated by Aker BP ASA, in partnership with ORLEN Upstream Norway AS.

How much does Vilje produce?

2,026 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.1% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 81 of 94 producing fields.

When did Vilje start producing?

First production was reported in 2008, 5 years after discovery well 25/4-9 S proved the field in 2003.

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.

Vilje field

Vilje is producing 2,026 barrels of oil equivalent a day — 0.1% of everything the Norwegian Continental Shelf produced in May 2026, ranking 81 of the 94 fields in production.

Production

2,026 boe/d

Share of NCS

0.1%

Operator

Aker BP ASA

First oil

2008

What it produces

In May 2026 the field delivered 2,026 barrels of oil equivalent a day, classified by the directorate as oil — almost entirely oil. Output has moved down 12.1% over the past twelve months, and the directorate's profile for the field is late life. The field's best year was 2010, averaging 32,151 boe/d — today it runs at 6% of that.

Since 2008, Vilje has produced roughly 91 million barrels of oil equivalent in total. The directorate's estimate of recoverable resources is 93 million boe, of which about 98% has now been recovered; 6 million boe remained as of 31.12.2025.

Timeline

2003
Proven by exploration well 25/4-9 S
2008
First production reported
2010
Best year to date — 32,151 boe/d

Production by year, 2008–2026

OilGasboe/d

Full table, year by year

Year	Oil	Gas	Total boe/d
2008	9,063	298	9,361
2009	26,839	1,206	28,045
2010	30,728	1,423	32,151
2011	30,544	1,398	31,942
2012	30,322	1,333	31,655
2013	22,708	947	23,655
2014	18,769	734	19,503
2015	13,596	454	14,050
2016	14,064	521	14,585
2017	11,285	385	11,670
2018	8,338	248	8,586
2019	5,069	129	5,198
2020	5,034	136	5,169
2021	3,418	56	3,474
2022	2,826	18	2,844
2023	2,190	10	2,199
2024	2,478	6	2,484
2025	1,835	0	1,835
2026	1,967	0	1,967

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 25/4-9 S in 2003. The directorate's wellbore register lists 9 wellbores on Vilje: 1 exploration and 8 development. The deepest reaches 3,856 metres measured depth. Water depth at the field's installations is 122 metres.

Installations on Vilje

The field also has 3 subsea structures — wellheads and templates on the seabed — which are drawn individually on the map.

Licence partners

Aker BP ASA75.76%
ORLEN Upstream Norway AS24.24%

The field sits in block 25/4, under production licence PL 036 D.

Questions people ask

Who operates the Vilje field?: Vilje is operated by Aker BP ASA, in partnership with ORLEN Upstream Norway AS.
How much does Vilje produce?: 2,026 barrels of oil equivalent per day as of May 2026 — 0.1% of Norwegian Continental Shelf output, ranking 81 of 94 producing fields.
When did Vilje start producing?: First production was reported in 2008, 5 years after discovery well 25/4-9 S proved the field in 2003.

See it live

Vilje 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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