The company said it has agreed to transport the gas through the existing the Asgard pipeline system to the Karstoe processing facility, rather than build a new pipeline from the Halten-Nordland area – where it owns an interest in several fields – to the Tampen area. BP owns a 30% share in the Skarv field, the other owners of which include Statoil with 30%, Royal Dutch/Shell with 25%, and ExxonMobil with 15%. BP said it had wanted to avoid what it sees as costly tariffs through Statoil's Asgard and Karstoe systems, and the new agreement was a result of "strenuous efforts" to align on an export solution for Skarv and the connected Idun field. It had originally aimed for a startup of the field in the third quarter of 2009, then later said the Asgard pipeline solution could delay output until 2012. "This is very good news for the partnership, and for new activity in the Mid-Norway area," said BP Norge managing director Scott Kerr. "Securing the export solution enables us to prepare for the front-end engineering in the fourth quarter of 2005.with the aim of sanctioning field development in 2006," he said. "This means that Skarv, which will be developed jointly with Idun, could be on stream during 2010."