This post examines the impact of delaying oil field developments and producing at below capacity upon reserves estimates made using Hubbert Linearisation. Robert Rapier had a similar post some months back using synthetic data. This post uses real data from Norway and three different story lines are described and analysed.

1. Norway
2. Fjordland – same as Norway but with 4 fields allowed to lie fallow and 20% of production withheld from 1981 to the present day
3. Fjelland – same as Fjordland but with the 4 fallow fields developed in 2001-2004 and full production reinstated from 2002.

The significance for predicting national and global oil reserves and peak oil are discussed.