Trelleborg to supply fenders for Johan Sverdrup topside modules

Swedish engineering company Trelleborg has won a contract to supply DD fenders to Samsung Heavy Industries for the installation of Johan Sverdrup topside modules.

Trelleborg said on Wednesday that the company was asked to design and supply fenders for connection to the modules’ structure pillars, each coated with passive fire protection, to protect it from potential incidental damage caused by the crane boom during the lifting process which may result in processing module or topside structure repairs and consequent delays to the project.

G.H. Lee of Samsung Heavy Industries said: “[…] it was vital that the platform topsides were constructed safely and efficiently to avoid any unnecessary delays in delivery.

“Trelleborg supplied us with 123 of its DD fenders and designed an innovative installation method to ensure a quick and hassle-free installation process at our fabrication yard. Therefore, Trelleborg proved to be the ideal supplier for a project that will be of major importance to Norway for decades to come.”

Trelleborg was also contracted in the summer of 2017 to manufacture and deliver 96 custom designed, sliding elastomeric bearings for use across the 23,000-tonne platform’s six support points that will be in direct contact with the heavy transport vessel that will deliver the topside to the field.

In related news, Statoil, the operator of the Johan Sverdrup project, on Wednesday awarded a contract to Alcatel Submarine Networks for permanent reservoir monitoring on the Johan Sverdrup field.

The contract entails the installation of 380 kilometers of fiber optic seismic cables on the seabed and more than 6,500 acoustic sensors covering an area of more than 120 square kilometers. The seismic technology will be in place and ready to optimize production in time for start-up. The seismic cables will be installed on the seabed of Johan Sverdrup during 2019.

As for the field itself, Johan Sverdrup 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.