First offshore building blocks for Norwegian player’s large North Sea development put in place

Norwegian oil and gas player Aker BP has installed the first five of the nine subsea templates built by Estonia’s Marketex Offshore Constructions (MOC) for its “major” North Sea project.

According to the firm, the installation of the first five templates in the Yggdrasil area marks a new phase of the Yggdrasil development project. The templates are 30 meters long, 20 meters wide, and weigh 418 tonnes.

Jan Fredrik Sørensen, Project Manager at Yggdrasil Subsea, noted: “Marketex has delivered the first five templates safely, with quality and on plan. During the last weeks the Subsea 7 vessel Seven Arctic has installed the templates on the seabed in the Munin area of Yggdrasil. It is great to have reached this phase of the project, and this milestone is very important for the major offshore work the Subsea Alliance will deliver in the coming years.”

The first steel for the templates was cut a little over a year ago at MOC’s Tallin yard. The yard was appointed to deliver nine templates for the Yggdrasil area by Aker Solutions and the Subsea Alliance between Aker BP, OneSubsea, and Subsea7. According to MOC, these are the largest subsea structures built by the firm to date. The contract is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2025.

“These templates are an important element of this major development, and the first to be installed subsea, and the timely delivery has been crucial. Hence, it was paramount for the company to finish the job to the highest quality standards and within the specified timeframe. Some of the templates have already been delivered to the mobilization yard in Norway, from where they will be shipped for offshore installation,” said Nadežda Vassiljeva, a Marketex Offshore Constructions Management Board Member.      

Comprising Hugin, Fulla, and Munin license groups, Yggdrasil is located between the Alvheim and Oseberg fields in the North Sea. After Aker BP and its partners, Equinor and PGNiG Upstream Norway, made a final investment decision (FID) to develop the Yggdrasil area in 2022, which was approved by the Norwegian Parliament in 2023, the first steel plates for Hugin A were cut at Aker Solutions’ Stord yard later that year.

A living quarter for the development was moved out of Leirvik’s fabrication hall last month. The firm was also hired to deliver a helideck for the project under a $103.07 million contract.