By the OGJ Online Staff
LONDON, Nov. 23 -- Statoil AS's Byford Dolphin drilling rig is under tow again in the Norwegian Sea after being adrift for over 24 hours in heavy seas 140 miles off the northern Norwegian coast. The company also today announced the successful startup of its delayed Huldra project.
The Byford Dolphin will now be towed as soon as practicable to Statoil's Mikkel field on the Halten Bank, which is where the rig was headed when the original towline was lost yesterday morning.
Weather conditions in the area have improved considerably since yesterday evening. The wind has slackened, according to reports from Byford Dolphin. The rig first started drifting with 71crew aboard, but 17 were helicoptered to the mainland as part of a scheduled crew change, and it was decided that no further evacuations were required.
The anchor handlers Northern Chaser and Pacific Banner are shadowing it. In addition, the anchor handler Northern Crusader is on its way from Kristiansund in mid-Norway. Several other vessels and helicopters are also standing by.
A search and rescue helicopter normally stationed on Statoil's Heidrun platform is ready to take off at short notice from the Ørland airfield and the joint rescue coordination center for southern Norway has mobilized a Sea King helicopter from Ørland to Shell's Draugen platform. Standby ships are also available in the area.
Three years ago the Byford Dolphin was listed by Statoil as one of its rigs that it considered as ready for replacement. In 1998 the company announced that its was reviewing its portfolio of rigs under charter with a view to acquiring "a safer and more efficient rig fleet."
The existing fleet of mobile rigs chartered by the group will have an average age of 22 years in 2005, when most of the present contracts with options are due to have expired.
Of the 16 rigs available to it, Statoil regards Transocean Wildcat, Byford Dolphin and Deepsea Trym, all built in the 1970s, as ready for replacement.
A company statement said that Statoil wanted a more modern fleet for safety, working environment and operative reasons.
It said, "Our goal of a more modern fleet could mean that we and our license partners must accept paying more to secure the improved safety and a better working environment offered by newbuildings."
Mikkel is in blocks 6407/5 and 6407/6 and Statoil is currently carrying out a program of development drilling. The field has estimated recoverable reserves of 138 Mmboe and 20.4 billion cu m of gas. Statoil is operator with 50% of the field. The other partners are ExxonMobil Norway AS. with 40%, and Norsk Hydro AS with 10%.
Detailed plans for the development of the field have recently been submitted to the Norwegian Government and it is planned to begin gas deliveries in 2003.
Statoil also announced today that its Huldra field in the North Sea commenced production of gas and condensate on 21 November. Roar Andersen, production Vice-Pres for the integrated Huldra and Veslefrikk organization, said, "Huldra has been an exciting project, but the most important period in the field's lifespan lies ahead. Now it's a question of securing revenues."
The platform on the field is unmanned and is controlled remotely from the Veslefrikk A platform 16 km away, but during the initial production phase a crew of 14 to 16 will be on board. The drilling rig Mærsk Galant is currently drilling production wells on the field.
Eventually, Huldra will produce from six wells. Production will be built up quickly to a daily plateau of 10 million cu m. Plans call for the field to produce for seven years.
Huldra has a simple processing plant for separating condensate and gas. The condensate is piped to Veslefrikk for processing, while the gas is sent to the Norsk Hydro-operated Heimdal field. From there it can be sent through the Vesterled gas trunkline to the UK or through the Statpipe system to continental Europe.
Production is almost two months behind schedule due to repairs carried out on the condensate pipeline between Huldra and Veslefrikk.
The field is in blocks 30/2 and 30/3 and production licenses were first awarded in 1979. Statoil is operator with 51.62%, TotalFinalElf Norway AS has 24.33%, ChevronTexaco Norway AS 23.34%, Paladin Resources Norway AS 0.5%, and Svenska Petroleum Exploration AS 0.21%.
