Solan oil tank arrives in Lerwick

A large steel oil storage tank to be installed west of Shetland as part of Premier’s development of the Solan field has arrived in Lerwick onboard a heavy-transport vessel Xiang Yun Kou, to make use of the port’s deep-water quays and anchorage.

The vessel is berthed at Holmsgarth 5 and local engineering and logistics companies have been engaged to prepare the tank prior to it being taken to the field.

The Xiang Yon Kou will, around August 1,  move to an anchorage in the port and ballast down for the tank to be floated off the deck of the vessel. The tank will then be transferred to tugs accompanying Thialf, the world’s largest semi-submersible crane vessel, which will install the tank.

Dependent on weather conditions, the 300,000-barrel subsea storage tank, built in Dubai by Drydocks World, could remain at Lerwick for a short period of time before being towed to the field, west of the Shetland Islands in a water depth of 135 meters.

The Premier Oil-operated Solan field is expected to produce approximately 40 million barrels of oil with an estimated initial production rate of 24,000 barrels of oil per day starting in the fourth quarter of 2014.

The project will entail the drilling of four subsea wells (two producers and two water injectors) tied back to a processing deck supported by a jacket. It is planned that the facilities will not be permanently manned after one year of operations.

Oil will be stored in the subsea tank prior to being offloaded to shuttle tankers.