Last week, Norway's longest and longest pipeline, laid by the vessel Saipem Castorone, arrived at the Johan Sverdrup field, operated by Equinor, in the North Sea.
Equinor reported on Monday that, late last week, the last pipe of what is now Norway's longest and longest pipeline was installed just beside the riser platform in the Johan Sverdrup field. The 36-inch pipeline stretches 283 km from the Mongstad oil terminal on the outskirts of Bergen to the giant field in the North Sea.
“Together with our supplier, Saipem managed to lay the pipeline to Johan Sverdrup without any serious incidents. It was a significant operation, involving over 600 people, who welded over 23.000 pipes together to create what has now become Norway's longest and longest pipeline,” says Geir Bjaanes, who is in charge of subsea, power and pipelines at the Johan Sverdrup Project.
“The pipeline plays a central role in the project. When the Johan Sverdrup field produces at peak, 660 barrels of oil, valued at over NOK 350 million per day, will flow into Mongstad daily,” says Bjaanes.
The vessel Saipem Castorone started pipetting operations in Mongstad at the end of April this year. Afterwards, the pipeline was laid through the Fensfjord before the ship set course for the Johan Sverdrup field.
next stage
With the pipeline in place, Saipem Castorone is preparing for the next step – the installation of the 156 km pipeline that will run from the Johan Sverdrup field to the Statpipe pipeline, from where gas from the field will be transported to Kårstø. Pipeline installation operations are expected to be completed during the fall.
“We spent many years with Saipem planning these operations. We are all very aware of the size of the task, with several months at sea with a significant installation scope. The key is to follow the detailed plans we have prepared and maintain our significant focus on HSE along the way, until the pipeline is in operation”, says Tor Kåre Egelandsdal, responsible for installing the pipeline and the contract with Saipem.
Once pipeline operations are complete, the 2018 Johan Sverdrup installation campaign will end.
With three jackets, two topsides, a bridge, over 400 km of pipelines and 200 km of power cables, the 2018 campaign is probably the busiest installation campaign ever for a project on the Norwegian continental shelf. And in 2019 the last two remaining topsides and bridges will be put in place before the start of the first phase of Johan Sverdrup development expected in November next year.
