IKM Ocean Design bags Johan Sverdrup hot-tap contract

An engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Johan Sverdrup gooseneck spool and retrofit hot-tap tee has been awarded to IKM Ocean Design by Statoil on behalf of operator Gassco.

According to Statoil, part of the gas export solution from the Johan Sverdrup field, the assignment will take about two years to complete. Work starts immediately.

“We’re pleased to award the contract to IKM Ocean Design,” says Svein Birger Thaule, executive vice president for asset management at Gassco.

“We believe this supplier will help us put in place a good and safe gas export solution for the field. The project will moreover be extremely important in ensuring gas deliveries for our Kårstø processing plant.”

Johan Sverdrup lies in the Norwegian North Sea, about 40 kilometres south of Grane, 65 kilometres north of Sleipner and 140 kilometres west of Stavanger.

Its gas will be exported to Kårstø via a new 18-inch pipeline, tied into the Statpipe rich-gas leg from Statfjord with the aid of hot tapping and connection to a 30-inch retrofit tee.

Installation will be diverless, using hot tapping equipment from the pipeline repair system (PRS) base in Haugesund.

Johan Sverdrup is one of the five largest oil fields on the Norwegian continental shelf. With estimated resources of 1.7 to three billion barrels, it will rank as one of Norway’s most important industrial projects over the next half-century.

The field is due to come on stream in December 2019, and to continue producing for 50 years.

Gassco will serve as the operator and technical manager of the 156-kilometre pipeline from the riser platform on Johan Sverdrup to the Statpipe rich-gas leg once the field comes on stream. Statoil is the development operator.

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