Aker BP installs Hod topsides just 14 months after first steel

Norwegian oil company Aker BP has installed the Hod platform topsides in the North Sea, offshore Norway, just one year and two months after the first steel cut.

Aker BP said on Tuesday that its alliance with Aker Solutions and ABB delivered the platform on time with no harm to people or the environment.

The 2,000-tonne topsides were placed on the jacket on the Hod field in the southern part of the North Sea on Sunday, 8 August. The jacket was installed in early July 2021.

The topside for the Hod field was transported from Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal to the Aker BP-operated field on 4 August.

Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik said: “The platform is delivered from a Norwegian yard and with Norwegian subcontractors. It is delivered according to plan, in just 14 months, in the middle of a pandemic. This is an enormous achievement. Congratulations to everyone who has contributed”.

Hod B will be remotely operated from Valhall, and the field will have extremely low CO2 emissions thanks to power from shore. Aker BP and partner Pandion expects Hod to produce 40 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Valhall asset manager Ole Johan Molvig added: “We look forward to bringing Hod on stream in the first quarter of next year. Aker BP will continue to increase value creation from the giant Valhall through new projects and a major ongoing modernisation of the area.

“Hod is an important contribution towards achieving the Valhall ambition of a total of two billion produced barrels from the area”.

The Hod B project was a beneficiary of certain measures implemented by the Norwegian Government. Namely, the first steel for Hod B was cut in Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal just hours after the Norwegian Parliament adopted temporary changes in the petroleum tax in June of last year.

The tax changes were introduced to stimulate increased investments, and thus secure Norwegian jobs in an extremely demanding period for the oil and gas industry.

It is worth noting that several subsea campaigns will be conducted in the Hod project leading up to production start in 2022, such as installation and connection of the gas lift pipelines, production flowlines and umbilicals.

Aker BP also stated that modification work was underway at the Valhall field centre and the Maersk Invincible drilling rig would be arriving this autumn to drill production wells.