Aibel starts Sverdrup job: 15 February 2016
Norway’s Aibel started construction on Monday of the topsides for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform, based on a delivery model sourcing modules for the facility from both local and overseas yards.
The steel-cutting ceremony at Aibel’s main Haugesund yard set in motion work on the first of four facilities that will form the field centre for the first phase of development of the giant North Sea field off Norway.
It follows detailed planning and engineering work performed by Aibel after winning the coveted Nkr8 billion ($1 billion) topsides fabrication contract with field operator Statoil a year ago.
The 22,500-tonne topsides will consist of three modules, one of which will be built at the Haugesund yard, another at the Nymo yard in Grimstad, Norway and the third at affiliate yard Deeline in Thailand.
All three modules are due to be assembled at the Haugesund facility in autumn 2017 before the platform is installed at the field the following year, according to Statoil.
The state-owned operator’s project chief Kjetel Digre said the drilling facility is “the most complex platform” of the quartet and is scheduled on stream in 2018, after which pre-drilled wells will be phased in ready for first oil due at the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, Odfjell Drilling’s semi-submersible rig Deepsea Atlantic is due to start pre-drilling of production wells at the field next month after pre-drilling templates were installed on the seabed last year.
Digre said about 14,000 workers will be employed on the Johan Sverdrup project this year, of which Aibel accounts for 1000 personnel, as the scheme provides a welcome jobs boost amid lay-offs in other parts of the local industry.
“We are dependent on all of these people to successfully deliver the project on time, to the required quality, and above all, without any HSE incidents,” he added.