Europe's biggest oil field hikes production

Europe's biggest oil field in production will sharply increase its output, providing the equivalent of seven percent of European demand, its operator, Norway's Equinor, said Thursday.

Located in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea, the Johan Sverdrup field which until now pumped some 535,000 barrels per day (bpd) on Thursday entered a new production phase where it will pump around 720,000 bpd.

The aim is to eventually bring that level to 755,000 bpd, Equinor said.

"Johan Sverdrup alone can thus meet 6-7 percent of the daily oil demand in Europe", it said in a statement.

The field, which is believed to hold 2.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent, will represent about a third of Norway's total oil production.

Norway is western Europe's biggest oil and gas producer.

Equinor owns 42.6 percent of the Johan Sverdrup field, alongside Norway's Aker BP (31.6 percent) and Petoro (17.4 percent), while France's TotalEnergies owns 8.4 percent.