Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway -- Norway’s parliament has approved Statoil’s development plan for the Gudrun field in the North Sea.
Gudrun will be developed via a fixed platform with a conventional steel jacket, weighing 7,400 metric tons (8,157 tons). The platform will have equipment for partial processing of oil and gas, which will be exported 55 km (34 mi) south to the Sleipner field via a new subsea pipeline.
On Sleipner, Gudrun’s oil and gas will undergo further processing, with the oil transported to Norway’s onshore terminal at Kaarsto along with the Sleipner condensate. Carbon dioxide will be separated from the gas before being sent to mainland Europe through the Gassled offshore trunkline system.
Power to the Gudrun platform will come directly by cable from Sleipner.
Saipem UK will be responsible for transporting and installing the platform jacket and topside, using the semisubmersible crane vessel S7000. Aker Solutions in Verdal, Norway is building the jacket, which should be installed in summer 2011 prior to the start of development drilling in October 2011.
Later this year, Statoil expects to issue remaining contracts for construction of the topside and living quarters, modifications to the Sleipner A platform, and pipeline fabrication and installation. The budget for the development is close to $3.3 billion.
Gudrun, discovered in 1974, has reserves estimated at 11.2 MMcm (70 MMbbl) of oil and 6.6 bcm (1.7 tcf) of gas. The reservoir is in Jurassic sandstone in subsurface depths of 4,200-4,700 m (13,779-15,420 ft). Statoil operates, in partnership with Marathon Petroleum and GdF Suez.
06/17/2010
