The licensees involved in the Johan Castberg discovery in the Barents Sea submitted their development and operation plans to authorities today.
As further concepts are granted, the whole development will see investment of £4.5billion.
The Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) involves the proposed development concept of a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO).
The Johan Castberg discovery lies 240 kilometres northwest of the Melkøya LNG plant in Hammerfest and 100 kilometres north of the Snøhvit field.
The Johan Castberg partnership consists of shared equity between Statoil (operator 50%), Eni (30%) and Petoro (20%).
The project would look to get underway by the end of 2022.
The field is believed to have a shelf-life of 30 years and hold 558 million barrels of oil.