Offshore safety body clears Aker BP’s underwater ops

Norwegian oil company Aker BP has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) for manned underwater operations (MUO) in 2018.

The PSA said on Tuesday that the underwater operations would be undertaken by Aker BP’s contractor, Subsea 7.

According to the offshore safety body, the application applies to the Alvheim, Ula, and Valhall fields.

The underwater operations will be carried out by the diving vessels DSV Seven Falcon, DSV Seven Atlantic, and LDC Seven Spray.

The PSA added that the start-up of operations was scheduled for the third or fourth quarter of 2018. The activities will last around 19 days.

The fields

The Alvheim field has been developed using a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The field includes the Boa, East Kameleon, and Kneler discoveries. These have been developed using individual subsea facilities tied back to the Alvheim FPSO.

Ula is an oil field is in the southern part of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Water depth in the area is approximately 70 meters. The development consists of three conventional steel platforms for production, drilling, and accommodation, which are linked by bridges.

Valhall is an oil field in the southern North Sea in 70 meters of water. The field was originally developed with an accommodation, drilling, and production platforms. In 1996, a wellhead platform was installed, with slots for 19 extra wells.