Aker Solutions delivers fourth Johan Sverdrup jacket

Oilfield services provider Aker Solutions has delivered yet another steel substructure for the largest industrial project ever in Norway, Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup field.

Previously, the company has delivered three platform jackets for phase 1. With this jacket for phase 2 of the project, four out of a total of five jackets have been built and delivered from Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the company, a key focus during the work has also been to improve execution models and to adapt to new types of jobs. As a result, future platform jackets for oil and gas and for renewable energy production can be delivered at a lower cost and with increased competitiveness.

Through the frame agreement entered into in 2014, Aker Solutions was awarded three out of four jackets for the first phase of the project.

The first delivery was the riser platform jacket in the summer of 2017. This was the largest and most complex platform jacket delivered from Aker Solutions to date and the first visible installation at the new Johan Sverdrup field centre.

In March 2018, Aker Solutions delivered the steel substructure for the drilling platform, and in July of that year, the process platform substructure was delivered.

On Tuesday 8 June 2021, exactly on schedule, the process platform substructure for phase 2 sails from Verdal.

Sturla Magnus, executive vice president and head of Aker Solutions’ topside and facilities business, said: “This is an exciting and important day for us. Through great cooperation with Equinor, we have delivered all four of these platform jackets at the agreed quality, time and budget”.

More than 100,000 metric tons of steel are delivered from Aker Solutions’ facility in Verdal, including the piles that attach the jackets to the seabed. In addition, the company’s facility at Stord has delivered a topside as well as a large module for the Johan Sverdrup field.

Erik Stiklestad, Aker Solutions’ yard director at Verdal, said: “In recent years, we have also increased industrialization for how we execute projects. This, combined with long-term relationships in the supplier market, makes it possible for us to offer flexibility to our customers. We are now delivering as planned despite a year of major challenges with COVID-19”.

In recent project news, the giant main support frame (MSF) module for the Johan Sverdrup P2 platform left Aibel’s yard in Thailand back in April this year.

Equinor’s Johan Sverdrup Process Platform II, or just P2, was Aibel’s largest project to date, weighing around 23,000 tons. The company was awarded the contract in April 2018, with responsibility for engineering, procurement, and construction.

In Norway, the MSF module will be merged with the two remaining modules, the utility process module (UPM) and the HVDC, into one platform for the Johan Sverdrup oil field.