Marathon Oil has confirmed that it has produced the first oil from its Alvheim field, located around 140 miles off the coast of Stavanger, Norway.

The Texas-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company expects the field to reach its full net production potential of 13,500 barrels a day by the end of the year, with six wells having already been drilled and completed.

Furthermore, the Alvheim development will serve as a central hub for oil production in the area, with the company's floating production storage and offloading vessel boasting a design capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil a day and sufficient storage for 560,000 barrels.

The nearby Vilje field is currently tied back to Alvheim, with the Volund development due to be tied back to the new field as soon as 2009.

Commenting on the significance of the new field, Ashley Heppenstall, president of Norway's Lundin Petroleum, which owns a 15 per cent share, noted: "Alvheim at full production will increase our production by 50 per cent when compared to our first quarter 2008 worldwide net production and have a major impact upon Lundin Petroleum's cash flow and profitability going forward."

ConocoPhillips Skandinavia is the third company with a stake in Alvheim, with a 20 per cent working interest.