Trelleborg in equipment supply deal for Johan Sverdrup

Swedish engineering company Trelleborg has been awarded a contract for the supply of elastomeric bearings for Statoil’s Johan Sverdrup development off Norway.

Trelleborg’s elastomeric bearings are steel plate laminated and installed between the hull and the modules. They accommodate axial, shear, and rotational movement to keep the modules safe from impact, damage, and deformation.

Similarly, they prevent the concentration of excessive strains and stresses around the mounting points of the modules and the hull caused by adverse sea and weather conditions.

After production, Trelleborg’s engineering team check the design for specified loads and deformations and the fatigue performance using crack growth analysis calculations. The press used for the tests has a load capacity of 18,300 metric tons and weighing in at 600 tons.

Located on the Utsira Height in the North Sea, 160 kilometers west of Stavanger, the Johan Sverdrup oil field is considered to be the largest offshore development in the past three decades. It will be operated by electrical power generated onshore.

Daily production during the project’s first phase is estimated at 440,000 barrels per day, while peak production during Phase 2 is estimated to reach 660,000 barrels daily, around 25 percent of all Norwegian petroleum production.

The riser platform – the largest of the four platforms comprising the project’s field center – will be the first of the Johan Sverdrup topsides to be installed in 2018. Trelleborg will manufacture and deliver 96 custom designed, sliding elastomeric bearings for use across the 23,000-ton platform’s six support points that will be in direct contact with the heavy transport vessel that will deliver the topside, which is being manufactured in South Korea, to the field.

JP Chia, engineering manager for Trelleborg’s engineered products operation, said: “The Johan Sverdrup oil field is one of the largest ongoing projects in the North Sea. Therefore, it is vital that the finest quality bearings were used to successfully secure each of the platform’s support points.”