Snøhvit

• Petoro
• TotalEnergies
• Engie
• Equinor
• Hess
• RWE Dea

The fields were discovered in 1984. The development plan was presented by Statoil in 2001, with production starting in 2006. A subsea production system was planned to feed a land-based plant on the island of Melkøya via 160 kilometres (99 mi) long submarine gas pipeline with diameter of 680 millimetres (27 in). The gas from Snøhvit was to be used for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. The total costs of field development will be around NOK 34.2 billion. The LNG plant will emit 920 thousand tonnes of CO₂ each year, an increase of Norway's total CO₂ emissions by almost 2%.

The annual export capacity is 5.75 billion cubic metres of LNG, 747 thousand tonnes of condensate and 247 thousand tonnes of liquified petroleum gas. Long-term export contracts have been signed with Iberdrola in Spain and El Paso in the USA.

The field also holds limited amounts of crude oil. The recent discovery of the nearby Goliat oil field has made the oil reserves at Snøhvit more exploitable.

The development of Snøhvit sparked political controversy in Norway, as it was the first discovery in the Barents Sea to be developed. Environmental groups like Natur og Ungdom and Bellona argued that the Barents Sea is too sensitive for oil and gas production, and that the Melkøya LNG plant would drastically increase Norway's CO₂ emissions. In the summer of 2002, protesters from Natur og Ungdom were arrested by the police after blocking the construction of the LNG plant at Melkøya for 10 days.

Geology

The reservoir resides in three fault blocks located in the Hammerfest Basin and consists of Lower to Middle Jurassic sandstones.