The plan for development and operation (PDO) of the North Sea Gudrun field was approved by the Norwegian Parliament on 16 June. Production is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2014. “This is an important day for us,” said Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Exploration & Production Norway (EPN). Gudrun is to be developed with a platform resting on the seabed including a traditional steel jacket weighing 7400 tonnes. The platform will have a processing facility for partial processing of oil and gas, before the hydrocarbons are piped to the Sleipner field.