Johan Sverdrup drilling platform assembly set for September

Modules for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform will be completed this summer in Thailand, Grimstad, and Haugesund, said Norwegian engineering and construction company Aibel.

Aibel said on Tuesday that the main support frame (MSF) would be the first module completed and would leave the yard in Thailand in early August.

Eighteen months after the first steel was cut in Thailand, the company is nearing the end of construction of the three big modules that together make up the drilling platform for the Johan Sverdrup field.

Bruce McPherson, the construction manager of the Johan Sverdrup project, said: “On a general basis, we’re doing well, but we still have a very tight schedule that requires targeted and focused work until the very last day at all our construction sites.”

Thailand first over the line

The first module to be completed will be the main support frame (MSF) in Thailand. All major lifting and structural work have been completed. Currently, around 2,000 regular and contract workers are working on completing the final details before handing the MSF over to mechanical completion and sail away in early August.

“We must not forget that this is the biggest module ever built by Aibel Thailand – and the largest mobile unit in the whole of Thailand,” added McPherson.

The MSF module was originally scheduled to be ready for transportation and departure in July. However, due to optimization of the transportation plans and the assembly operations in Klosterfjorden, transport to Norway has been postponed to the beginning of August.

Norwegian operations

Aibel said that the drilling support module (DSM) in Haugesund and the drilling equipment set (DES) in Grimstad should be delivered on time. The plan is for the DSM to be mechanically complete on August 22, while the DES will leave Nymo on August 25.

Project director Stig Jessen said: “Haugesund has been ahead of schedule all the time. Planning and implementation have both been exceptionally good, so I’d be surprised if we don’t complete on time. At Nymo in Grimstad, we’ve had one or two complications in the course of spring. But Nymo is doing a good job, and together we have a good plan for how to deliver on time.”

According to the company, assembly of the three modules in Klosterfjorden, north of Haugesund, will take place in the course of the first half of September.

Afterward, the barge with the three modules will be towed to Haugesund, where it will lie alongside the quay. The integration work at the yard begins on September 25. From November and until the platform leaves the yard in Haugesund in June or July next year, Statoil will be testing the equipment on board.

Development concept

The development concept for Johan Sverdrup consists of two phases. Phase 1 of the development establishes a field center consisting of four platforms on the field. Phase 2 builds on this infrastructure, adding another processing platform to the field center. Overall this will result in a processing capacity of 660 000 barrels of oil per day.

Statoil is the operator of the project with 40.0267 percent, and the remaining partners are Lundin Norway with 22.6 percent working interest, Maersk Oil with 8.44 percent, Petoro with 17.36 percent and Aker BP with 11.5733 percent working interest.