Norway's two main oil companies, Statoil ASA and Norsk Hydro ASA, presented separate plans on Friday for developing new oil and natural gas fields in adjacent areas of the northern North Sea.

State-controlled Statoil called its Gjoea field project a major new North Sea development, while Norsk Hydro said its smaller Vega and Vega Soer fields had been made economically viable by new technology and the option of linking production to Statoil's new field.

"The development of the Gjoea field is a major field project, and establishing that infrastructure offers a good basis for developing additional resources in the area," said Oil Minister Odd Roger Enoksen in accepting the project proposals. "The project shows that the Norwegian continental shelf still has a lot to offer."

The government has been encouraging oil companies to develop new fields and smaller finds in the North Sea to keep up crude flows that make the Nordic country the world's third-largest oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Statoil said the Gjoea field, being developed at an estimated cost of 27 billion kroner (US$4.35 billion; euro3.31 billion) will have a daily production of 17 million cubic meters (953 million cubic feet) of natural gas plus about 14,000 cubic meters (88,000 barrels) of oil and condensate after coming on stream in 2010.

The company said it wants to develop the field, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the midwestern Norway coast, with subsea wells, linked to a semi-submersible oil platform. The gas will be sent through an existing pipeline to St. Fergus, Scotland.

Norsk Hydro said its Vega fields, expected to cost 6 billion kroner (US$975 million; euro736 million) to develop, will produce about 7 million cubic meters (247 million cubic feet) and 25,000 barrels of condensate per day. The production will be sent north to Statoil's Gjoea field by pipeline, for processing and export.

Enoksen said the review and approval process by the government and parliament was expected to be completed by mid-2007.