DeepOcean Installs Subsea Tree at Skuld Field (Norway)

DeepOcean has for the first time installed a subsea X-Mas tree from the specialised IMR vessel Edda Fauna. This is a milestone in the company’s IMR work for Statoil.

DeepOcean has three ships that work year round performing several hundred different annual inspection, maintenance and repair work annually on all Statoil operated subsea assets on the Norwegian shelf. DeepOcean has performed Statoil’s first X-Mas tree installation (valve tree) with a specialised vessel on a drilled well before completion. Subsea tree installation is typically carried out from the drilling rig. Using IMR vessel is a cost effective solution saving several days of expensive drilling rig time, while freeing capacity for Statoil’s contracted drilling rigs.

The operation was performed with specialised IMR vessel Edda Fauna for the fast track development project Skuld in the Norwegian Sea. Usually it is the drilling rig that puts down the valve tree or X-Mas tree, as it is also called. Installation is done in connection with the drilling and completion of wells. Because the well was drilled, it was possible to perform the operation with DeepOcean’s IMR vessel.

“It involves heavy lifting as this Xmas tree with all control equipment weighing 55 tons. Lifting operations are critical and small weather window. The promise was carried out with the boat’s module handling tower and lowered through the ship’s moon pool. This is an operation which I think both we and the Statoil IMR organization has wanted to perform for a long time. Together we succeed with the subsea operations, and we hope this open for several similar projects. It is important for us to strive for new goals for our operations and it is very nice for our project teams to get new challenges from our largest client. Projects like this remind us that the work our people do every day contributes to maintaining the production levels of the Norwegian oil and gas fields. If we in addition can save a lot of money for our customers, it’s really nice,” says Sveinung Soma, Engineering Manager at DeepOcean AS in a comment.

Related:

Norway: Government Approves Statoil’s Skuld Plans

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Press Release, November 19, 2012