Johan Sverdrup seems to function as a case study of the declining costs of the oil industry. On Monday morning, the operator of the upcoming major field announced that the price for developing the field's first phase is now estimated to land at NOK 92 billion (EUR 9.9 billion). This is NOK 5 billion less than the previous estimate and NOK 25 billion less than the NOK 117 billion originally estimated in 2015.

"The Johan Sverdrup project continues to deliver ahead of expectations, thanks to solid collaboration between Statoil, its partners and our suppliers," says Statoil President and CEO Eldar Sætre in a statement.