Island Offshore vessel duo cleared to work on two North Sea fields

Statoil has received consent from the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to use two Island Offshore-owned vessels for well intervention activities at Sigyn and Johan Sverdrup fields off Norway. 

The PSA said on Tuesday that Statoil previously received consent to use the Island Wellserver and Island Frontier vessels for well intervention activities on fields in the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea.

The safety body added that the consent was extended to also cover the Johan Sverdrup and Sigyn fields. The consent applies from March 1, 2018, to March 31, 2020.

The Johan Sverdrup field is on the Utsira High in the North Sea, 40 kilometers south of Grane, and 65 kilometers north-east of Sleipner. The field is under development and production is planned to start in 2019.

The Sigyn field lies in the Sleipner area in the central sector of the North Sea. The field has been developed using a subsea template tied back to Sleipner Øst.

In addition to two new fields, the consent has also been extended to cover injectivity tests. This is an activity involving testing and logging the injection of water into the reservoir. Injectivity tests are a new activity for the Island Wellserver and Island Frontier.

Island Frontier was built in 2004 at the Søviknes yard while the Island Wellserver was built in 2008 at the Aker Langsten yard. Both were registered in Norway and classified by DNV GL. Island Frontier was issued an acknowledgment of compliance (AoC) by the PSA in October 2006 and the Island Wellserver in April 2009. Both vessels are owned by Island Offshore.