Aker BP Gets Nod for Manned Underwater Ops in 2018

Aker BP has received consent from Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway to perform manned underwater operations in 2018.

The underwater operations will be undertaken by Aker BP’s contractor Subsea 7, at the Alvheim, Ula and Valhall fields.

The underwater operations will be carried out by the diving vessels DSV Seven Falcon, DSV Seven Atlantic and LDC Seven Spray.

Schedule start-up of operations is in Q3 or Q4 of 2018, and will last around 19 days.

The Alvheim field has been developed using a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. The field includes three discoveries: Boa, East Kameleon and Kneler. These have been developed using individual subsea facilities tied back to the Alvheim FPSO.

Ula is an oil field is in the southern part of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The development consists of three conventional steel facilities for production, drilling and accommodation, which are linked by bridges.

Valhall is an oil field in the southern North Sea in 70 metres of water. The field was originally developed with an accommodation facility, a drilling facility and a production facility. In 1996, a wellhead facility (Valhall WP) was installed, with slots for 19 extra wells.