Aibel sends off first Dvalin module to Heidrun

DEA Norge’s first module for the Dvalin project development has left an Aibel yard, heading for installation on the Statoil-operated Heidrun platform in the Norwegian Sea.

The H25 module ready for departure from Aibel's yard in Haugesund on Tuesday, May 8. Image: Aibel

As previously reported, the 577-tonne H25 module was built by Aibel and transported out of the North Sea Hall at Aibel in Haugesund on Monday, April 23.

The module left the yard on its journey to the Heidrun platform on Tuesday, May 8.

Aibel said that, since the rollout from the North Sea Hall, the module has been docked in Haugesund for preparation for further transport. Now the journey continues to Mekjarvik, where the Saipem 7000 heavy lifting vessel will carry the module to the Heidrun platform for installation by the end of May.

Together with the M40 module, the H25 module will enable the Heidrun platform to receive the gas production from the Dvalin field.

According to Aibel, prefabrication started on August 1 last year, while actual construction of the module started in the North Sea Hall in January of this year. The complex module was completed on March 28.

A prerequisite for successful construction was a high degree of completion from the engineering team prior to beginning of fabrication and access to materials. For H25, all IFC drawings were issued in ten months, i.e. before beginning prefabrication.

Aibel Project Manager Jon Garborg, said:“This has been achieved in parallel with the major modification work on Heidrun and also the M40 module, which will be the next delivery. Here, all the construction drawings have been issued and the fabrication work is well underway. Completion of the 4,000-tonne module is scheduled for March 2019.”

The Dvalin gas field is located in the Norwegian Sea about 15 kilometers north-west of the Statoil-operated Heidrun platform and 290 kilometers from the Nyhamna process plant. DEA submitted the plan for development and operation of the Dvalin field to the Norwegian authorities in October 2016, and the plan was approved in March 2017. The first gas from the field is expected in 2020.

Aibel is responsible for the modification project that will ensure that the Heidrun platform can accept gas production from the Dvalin field. The contract includes engineering, procurement, construction work and installation, including the two M40 and H25 modules.