Ithaca Set for Stella Start-Up

Ithaca Energy said it anticipates that work on the final stages of the Stella development programme will be completed around the end of this month and enable start-up of production.

According to the company, significant progress has been made since the FPF-1 floating production facility departed Poland in August 2016. Namely, the FPF-1 was safely towed to the field, moored on location and the dynamic risers and umbilical connecting the subsea infrastructure to the vessel installed.

The subsea commissioning programme has recently been completed by Technip, with all the infield flowlines flushed and ready for the start-up of production. Connection and operational trials for the “single anchor loading” system have also been completed for the fleet of shuttle tankers that are available for oil exports from the FPF-1.

The FPF-1 offshore commissioning programme is on-going, involving preparation of the topsides processing and utility systems for the introduction of hydrocarbons. Ithaca said that this work is well advanced, with the operations team focused on completing the required inspections and associated readiness activities required to enable a safe and efficient start-up of the wells.

As previously reported, significant progress has also been made during the quarter on the work programme associated with switching from tanker loading to oil pipeline exports for the Greater Stella Area in 2017. Following installation of a connection point on the Norpipe system in summer 2016, a 44 kilometre spurline from the FPF-1 to the Norpipe system was installed in September 2016.

The key outstanding activities that now remain to be completed are the manufacture and installation of pipeline export pumps on the FPF-1 and the final subsea connections that need undertaking immediately prior to the switchover.