STATOIL MAKES PROGRESS IN SECOND ATTEMPT AT E. SLEIPNER PLATFORM

Norway's Den norske stats oljeselskap AS has mounted the 37,000 metric ton topsides on a replacement gravity base structure (GBS) for its East Sleipner production platform in the Norwegian North Sea.

Statoil said mating of the Sleipner A platform took place without incident in fjord at Stavanger. The structure is to be ready to sail out to the field June 7.

Field development was set back dramatically when the original Sleipner A platform GBS sank during ballasting trials in 1991 (OGJ, Oct. 28, 1991, p. 19). A second, almost identical platform has been almost identical platform has been built in a race against the clock to meet the original production schedule.

East Sleipner is the first gas field due on stream to serve the Troll sales agreement starting in October. Under that contract, gas from several Norwegian offshore fields will be moved through the Zeepipe will be moved through the Zeepipe pipeline to Zeebrugge, Belgium, for sale in Central Europe.

Statoil said four wells will be ready to begin production Oct. 1. Two will be drilled from the platform starting in June. One well each in East Sleipner and nearby Loke fields have been drilled through subsea templates ready for tieback. A fifth well will be ready to produce in mid-October.

Meanwhile, Statoil let a 1 billion kroner ($150 million) contract to Kvaerner AS, Oslo, for detailed engineering and construction of a gas processing platform, Sleipner T, for its West Sleipner field development.

Although West, Sleipner field is more than 7 miles from East Sleipner, Sleipner T will be installed alongside Sleipner A, linked by a 320 ft steel bridge.

That is because the two planned West Sleipner platforms will not normally be manned, while accommodation facilities on East Sleipner will allow ready access for maintenance work on its gas processing Plant.

Sleipner T will be a six leg steel structure standing in 260 ft of water. A wellhead platform, Sleipner B, will be installed in West Sleipner. The B and T platforms will be remotely operated from Sleipner A.

Sleipner T is scheduled to go on stream in April 1997. So far, Statoil said, gas has been allocated the Troll sales contract starting in 2001. If no further allocation can be negotiated, gas will be injected into the East Sleipner reservoir until 2001 to boost condensate production.

East Sleipner reserves are estimated at 125 million bbl of oil, 100 million bbl of NGL, and 1.8 tcf of gas. Loke field reserves are put at 7 million bbl of oil, 6 million bbl of NGL, and 105 bcf of sales gas. West Sleipner reserves are listed as 4.8 tcf of gas, 200 million bbl of oil, and 100 million bbl of NGL.