Uchenna Izundu
OGJ International Editor
LONDON, Aug. 13 -- StatoilHydro has carried out two hot tap operations on a pressurized pipeline on Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea, making it the deepest subsea work of its kind in the world.
At 860 m the company tied in a new subsea template on the southern part of the field to the existing infrastructure on the seabed.
“The two hot taps were monitored and controlled from the surface, assisted by 100 sensors, 23 cameras, and 18 subsea computers deployed on the seabed to transmit data via heavy duty cables,” said StatoilHydro.
The technology means that the company can benefit from marginal fields by using existing pipelines tied back to older infrastructure with good capacity.
Bjorn Kare Viken, vice-president for marine technology and operations for StatoilHydro, said, “Using remotely operated hot tapping makes it possible to pursue operations in deep waters where divers can't be used.”
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
