One of two compressor stations at the Ormen Lange gas field in the Norwegian Sea is out of service, cutting production to around 60 per cent of capacity until early next year, operator Shell said on Monday.
"I can confirm that we are working to address technical challenges we have had on some of the compressors," a spokesperson for Shell in Norway said.
Shell and its partners are focused on returning to normal production as soon as possible, currently estimated by "early next year", the spokesperson added.
Output at Ormen Lange has been curtailed by around 8.9 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas per day from a capacity of 22.9 mcm per day since July 13 due to "corrective maintenance", according to a transparency notice published via Norwegian gas infrastructure operator Gassco.
An updated statement earlier on Monday extended the curtailment, which was initially scheduled to end on October 1, until February 1, 2027.
Investigations are ongoing to understand the underlying cause and make the necessary improvements, the spokesperson said.
Ormen Lange is 120 kilometres (75 miles) off the Norwegian coast and its subsea installations sit at a depth of 800-1,100 metres (0.5-0.7 miles).
The two subsea compression stations came into operation last year to help boost recovery of gas reserves.
Shell holds a 17.8 per cent stake in the field, with other stakes held by Petoro (36.5 per cent), Equinor (25.3 per cent), Orlen Upstream Norway (14 per cent) and Vaar Energi (6.3 per cent).
(Reporting by Nora Buli. Editing by Mark Potter)