VIDEO: Norway’s first and world’s largest spar platform mated

The world’s largest spar-platform built for the Statoil-operated Aasta Hansteen development off Norway was mated at Stord during the weekend.

Norway’s oil giant Statoil on Monday launched a video of the hull and topside mating operation.

The 24 000 tonne topside for the Aasta Hansteen platform was towed from Ølensvåg to Stord on the west coast of Norway, and floated over the 46 000 tonne floating vertical hull. The 200-meter-long substructure was upended in July.

Kvaerner, a Norwegian provider of engineering and construction services, assisted with the completion of the cylindrical substructure and preparation for hook-up with the topside. After the hook-up, Kvaerner will continue the work on completion while the platform is anchored in Digernessundet outside Stord.

Now, the platform will be prepared for operations, and in the spring of 2018 it will be towed to the Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea. Kvaerner will also assist Statoil with offshore hook-up and preparations for production.

The Aasta Hansteen platform will be Norway’s first spar platform in production. Spar is a cylindrical, partially submerged offshore drilling and production platform that is particularly well adapted to deepwater.

The cylindrical substructure will be floating 160 meters below the surface and be anchored with fiber rope and chain fastened to anchors on the seabed at around 1 260 meters water dept in the Norwegian Sea.

The gas discovery – previously named Luva – is situated at a depth of 1,300 meters in the Vøring area, 300 kilometers from land. The rich gas will be exported through the Polarled flowline to Nyhamna, and condensate will be stored and offloaded offshore.

Statoil is the operator of the field with Wintershall, OMV, and ConocoPhillips as partners.

Offshore Energy Today Staff