ABB’s cable system to power Johan Sverdrup

Statoil has, on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partnership, awarded a contract to ABB AB in Sweden for fabrication and installation of two high-voltage cables supplying power from shore to the Johan Sverdrup field, in the North Sea offshore Norway. 

The contract is an EPCI contract covering engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation and testing of two high-voltage power cables and a fibre-optic communication cable to the Johan Sverdrup field centre from shore.

The high-voltage cables are 200 kilometres long and designed for a supply capacity of 100 MW/80 kV. Statoil says that this will cover the power need for the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development, which is scheduled for start-up late in 2019.

The contract also covers options for delivering high-voltage cables from shore to the Johan Sverdrup field to meet the power requirement of a full development of the Johan Sverdrup field as well as the Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen and Gina Krog fields on the Utsira High.

The total contract value is NOK 700 million ($85.4 million), plus options.

“Delivering enhanced customer value through close customer collaboration is an important element of ABB’s Next Level strategy and we are delighted to be supporting Statoil with this cable system as well as the HVDC converter stations,” said Claudio Facchin, president of ABB’s Power Systems division.

Fabricated at ABB AB’s plant in Karlskrona, the high-voltage cables will be laid from Haugsneset in Tysvær municipality north of Stavanger to the Johan Sverdrup field centre on the Utsira High. The power cables will be pulled up to the riser platform at the Johan Sverdrup field centre.

The cables will be buried into the seabed or covered by rocks, as required.

This contract is one of the three major contracts covering the land-based power supply project. The first contract has already been awarded to ABB in Norway for delivery of high-voltage direct current transformer equipment to the riser platform at Johan Sverdrup and at Haugsneset.

The last contract covers all construction work related to the alternating current cable to be laid from Kårstø to Haugsneset and the entire onshore converter station. The contract for the onshore construction work is being evaluated and is expected to be awarded this autumn.

The Johan Sverdrup oil field will be operated by land-based power from production start in late 2019.

The first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development will also include all the preparations needed for land-based power supply for a full Johan Sverdrup development as well as other fields on the Utsira High by 2022.

The Johan Sverdrup field partners: Statoil 40.0267% (operator), Lundin Norway 22.6%, Petoro 17.36%, Det norske oljeselskap 11.5733% and Maersk Oil 8.44%.