Busy days ahead as Dvalin subsea template heads to Norwegian Sea

Norwegian oil services company Aker Solutions on Tuesday evening loaded out DEA Norge’s Dvalin subsea template, marking the beginning of a series of Dvalin marine operations planned for the next couple of weeks.

DEA Norge’s first hardware milestone for the Dvalin gas development project off Norway was the completion of the subsea template in January, following 15 months of production at Aker Solutions’ yard in Egersund.

According to DEA Norge’s statement on Wednesday, the 280 ton template was lifted from the Aker Solutions’ Egersund yard quayside onto TechnipFMC’s offshore construction vessel Deep Explorer. After performing a trial lift, simulating the offshore installation, the vessel set course for the Dvalin field in the Norwegian Sea.

The company also said that the template will be in transit for the next one and a half days, with an estimated time of arrival on the Dvalin field 260 km north-west of Kristiansund on Thursday.

Under a contract from October 2016, TechnipFMC is in charge of subsea installation work on the Dvalin development which entails a subsea tieback to the adjacent Heidrun platform. Gas from the field will be transported via Heidrun through the Polarled pipeline to the Nyhamna processing plant before being sent to the European market.

Dvalin Senior Project Manager, Keith O’Donnell, said: “This marks the beginning of a busy period for DEA and the Dvalin project. We have got several marine operations lined up for the next few weeks; the H25 module load out and installation on the Heidrun platform and gas export pipe line installation, to mention a few.”

This milestone brings the Dvalin project one step closer to first gas and production in 2020.

It is worth reminding that DEA Norge submitted the plan for development and operation of the Dvalin field, formerly known as Zidane, to Norwegian authorities in October 2016. Soon after the plan was filed, Aker Solutions won a contract to deliver the subsea production system, maintenance and services at the Dvalin development. The Dvalin development plan was approved by the authorities in March 2017.

Offshore Energy Today Staff