VIDEO: Countdown begins for Aasta Hansteen hull arrival

Norwegian oil giant Statoil on Wednesday launched a video with highlights from the Aasta Hansteen field development. The hull of Norway’s first spar platform, which will be installed in the Norwegian Sea, is expected to reach the country this month. 

According to the oil company, the development of the Aasta Hansteen gas field is one of the biggest and most complex industrial projects in Europe.

With the 482-kilometer-long Polarled pipeline meant to transport gas from the Aasta Hansteen, Statoil is taking the Norwegian gas infrastructure northward across the Arctic Circle for the first time, opening a new area of the Norwegian Sea for gas export to Europe.

The construction of the spar platform started some three years ago at Hyundai Heavy Industries’ shipyard in South Korea, which is in charge of building both the lower hull and the topsides of the spar platform.

The 200-meter-long hull weighing 46 000 tonnes headed form Korea to Norway in late April. According to Statoil, it is expected to arrive to Høylandsbygd in Norway on the world’s largest heavy transport vessel, Dockwise Vanguard, in mid-June.

“We are building the largest spar platform in the world, and we are setting a new depth record of 1,300 meters for a field development and pipeline on the NCS,” Statoil boasted.

Once in Høylandsbygd, the hull will be upended and mated with the topside weighing 24 000 tonnes in late autumn 2017 before being towed to the Norwegian Sea. The topside construction is in its final phase.

Statoil’s project director, Torolf Christensen, noted that both the platform and the Polarled pipeline have the capacity for tie-in of new discoveries.

After being initially scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2017, the production from the field was postponed and first gas is now expected in late 2018.

Statoil is the operator of the field with Wintershall, OMV, and ConocoPhillips as partners.

Offshore Energy Today Staff