Johan Castberg FPSO is now complete, Equinor says

The world’s largest crane vessel, Heerema Marine Contractors’ Sleipnir, has installed the last two pieces of the puzzle needed to make the Johan Castberg FPSO complete and ready for interconnection of the modules and final testing.

As reported by Offshore Energy, Heerema’s Sleipnir headed to Stord, Norway at the end of July to perform an installation job on the FPSO bound for the Barents Sea. The vessel was expected to arrive in Stord on 24 August.

In a social media post on Friday, Equinor informed that Sleipnir was “quayside at Stord last week, installing the two final modules on the Johan Castberg floating production, storage and offloading ship.” The vessel first lifted the manifold module, the heavier of the two, putting it on top of the lower turret. The gantry module was installed on top of the manifold.

The Castberg FPSO has been at Aker Solutions’ Stord yard since its arrival from Singapore in April 2022. In early August, the vessel caught fire, which was extinguished quickly and resulted in no injuries.

With the modules for the turret in place, the FPSO is complete, Equinor said.

Now, all modules will be interconnected and everything tested, a comprehensive job to be completed in 2024, Equinor concluded.

Following final completion, the vessel is set to be deployed at the Johan Castberg field, which lies in the Barents Sea, 240 kilometres northwest of Hammerfest. The field, which is expected to be producing for more than 30 years, has proven volumes estimated between 400 and 650 million barrels of oil.