Gina Krog FSO heading to Norway

A floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel destined for the Statoil-operated Gina Krog development offshore Norway has left the shipyard in Singapore.

According to the latest AIS data on Marine Traffic, the unit has left the Sembcorp Marine yard using its own engine and is expected to make a stop in Cape Town, South Africa, on August 1.

The Gina Krog field is located in the central part of the North Sea, offshore Norway, about 30 kilometers northwest of Sleipner. It was initially a small-size gas discovery, which proved oil in 2007 and 2008.

The Plan for Development and Operation of the field was submitted in December 2012 and the field was brought on stream on June 30, 2017.

The Gina Krog platform is tied in to Sleipner A platform and uses both processing capacity on the platform and existing pipelines for sending the gas to the market in Europe. Oil from the field is meant to be transported by the FSO unit, owned by Teekay. The unit was converted from the former shuttle tanker Randgrid by Sembcorp Marine’s Sembawang shipyard in Singapore.

Teekay said in May that the FSO project experienced delays and cost increases and it was expected to be hooked-up on the field during the third quarter of 2017.

Statoil is the operator of the Gina Krog field with an interest of 58.7 percent. The partners are Total E&P Norge (15%), KUFPEC Norway (15%), PGNiG Upstream Norway (8%) and Aker BP (3.3%).

Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Statoil, Teekay, and Sembcorp Marine seeking confirmation of the vessel’s departure.

A spokesperson for Teekay confirmed to Offshore Energy Today that the FSO has left the shipyard earlier on Thursday. “We expect to arrive in the North Sea by the end of August,” the spokesperson added.

The article was updated to include a confirmation from Teekay. 

Offshore Energy Today Staff