Norwegian oil company Statoil has completed the installation of the Mariner A platform topside for its Mariner field development in the UK sector of the North Sea.
Mariner is a heavy oil field characterized by dense, viscous oil. The development concept includes a production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform based on a steel jacket, Mariner A, with a floating storage unit (FSU), Mariner B. Drilling will be carried out from the Mariner A drilling rig, with a jack-up rig assisting for the first four years.
The steel jacket was installed in the field during the summer of 2015 and the topsides modules were constructed by South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). The first topside module was sent to Norway in May, which was soon followed by the rest of topside modules.
On Monday, August 7 Statoil has launched a video of the installation of Mariner A platform topsides, which is now complete.
In the update, Statoil informed that, on Wednesday, August 2 the final piece of the giant puzzle was lifted into place on the 38 000 tonne topside. The topside consists of eight modules, two of them more than 10 000 tonnes. The flare, a crane and some stair towers have also been installed offshore by Saipem’s heavy lift vessel, Saipem 7000.
Now, the floatel Safe Boreas is connected to the platform and the two million man hour topside scope can begin. The hook up and commissioning of the Mariner platform will last for more than a year. The Mariner field is expected to come on stream in late 2018.
Statoil is the operator of the Mariner field with 65.11% equity. Co-venturers are J.X. Nippon (20%), Siccar Point Energy (8.89%) and Dyas (6%).
Offshore Energy Today Staff