Equinor ASA and partners have installed the topsides for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform offshore Norway in a single left using technology the operator calls “groundbreaking.”
The Allseas Pioneering Spirit heavy-lift vessel installed the 22,000-tonne steel structure in 3 hr after preparations.
Topsides that large until now have been modular because crane vessels can lift no more than 12,000 tonnes at once.
Technology used by the Pioneering Spirit, which has single-lift capacity of 48,000 tonnes, was designed for platform removal.
The drilling platform is the second of four structures to be installed in the first phase of Johan Sverdrup development. The riser platform is in place. The processing and utility-and-accommodation platforms will be installed early next year.
Eight wells drilled in 2016 will be tied back to the drilling platform late this year and early in 2019.
Drilling from the platform will begin after the tie-backs. As many as 48 wells will be drilled in the first and second development phases.
First-phase production is to begin late next year and reach 440,000 b/d. Peak production after the start-up of the second phase in 2022 is expected to be 660,000 b/d (OGJ Online, Apr. 6, 2018).
Interests are Equinor, the operator, 40.0267%; Lundin Norway, 22.6%; Petoro, 17.36%; Aker BP, 11.5733%; and Total, 8.44%.
