Statoil presses ahead with Askeladd field development. Awards deals to Subsea 7, Ocean Installer

Norway’s Statoil has awarded a contract for pipelaying to Subsea 7 and for marine operations to Ocean Installer in the Askeladd field development.

Askeladd is located 35 km South-West of the Snøhvit field and 175 km from the LNG plant at Melkøya. The water depth is approximately 240 -330 meters.

The Askeladd field will be developed with three wells via two new subsea templates that have space for additional wells in the future. In addition, infrastructure will be installed to tie-in the Askeladd development to the existing Snøhvit field facilities.

Subsea 7 will lay a 44-kilometer-long and 20-inch-wide pipeline that will tie Askeladd to the Snøhvit field. Support activities for the operations will be based in Hammerfest and other locations. Starting immediately, the work will continue throughout 2019. The installation will be performed in the summer of 2019.

“The Askeladd project is being developed in a period of several key milestones for Statoil in North Norway. The Aasta Hansteen field in the Norwegian Sea will come on stream at the end of the year. The Johan Castberg development began in earnest after it was recently sanctioned. In addition, Statoil’s drilling campaign in the Barents Sea is being pursued this year,” says Torger Rød, Statoil’s senior vice president for project development.

Ocean Installer will install two subsea templates in 2019. A 42-kilometre-long umbilical, a 35-kilometre-long MEG (mono-ethylene glycol) pipeline and two manifolds will be installed in 2020. In addition, Ocean Installer will fabricate and install four spools and protective structures and carry out tie-ins and ready-for-operation activities. The operations will mainly be mobilized from Hammerfest, and will give spinoffs for local suppliers.

Ocean Installer CEO Steinar Riise said:“Following our recent awards from Statoil, Ocean Installer is proud to be awarded this important project as well. The Askeladd award, together with the earlier Johan Castberg Award, will give us specific and unique experience in the far north region, which is expected to be a major growth area in coming years.”

Ocean Installer said on Thursday it would be involved with Askeladd throughout the entire development phase, until the field is hooked up to Snøhvit in 2020, with offshore operations planned for the summer seasons of 2019 and 2020.

Both Subsea 7 and Ocean Installer have previously been awarded similar contracts for the Johan Castberg development. There will be synergy effects between the two projects that are key developments for the Norwegian continental shelf and for North Norway in the years ahead, Statoil said.

“Statoil’s activities in the north generate ripple effects and together with the collaboration partners we are actively seeking competitive suppliers in this part of the country,” says Pål Eitrheim, Statoil’s chief procurement officer.