Thialf connects Sverdrup drilling modules

Aibel has completed assembly of the three modules for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform in Klosterfjorden, Norway.

 

This was one of the country’s largest-scale inshore marine operations to date, the company claimed.

 

Earlier this month Heerema Marine Contractors’ crane vessel Thialf lifted the 10,250-ton heavy Main Support Frame (MSF), built at Aibel’s yard in Thailand, on board the integration barge.

 

The following day, the Drilling Support Module (DSM), built in Haugesund and weighing around 8,000 tons, was lifted into place on top of the MSF.

 

Finally, the vessel lifted the 3,000-ton, 90-metre (295-foot) high Drilling Equipment Set (DES), supplied by Aibel’s partner Nymo in Grimstad, to provide one joined platform, which including the grillage was 147 metre (482 foot) tall and weighing around 22,000 tons.

 

Following transportation to Aibel’s Norwegian yard in Haugesund, the structure will remain moored through the coming winter, while all installations are completed, and the equipment and systems are tested and verified.

 

Early next summer Aibel will hand over the platform deck to Statoil for subsequent delivery to the field location in the North Sea.

 

Aibel is also responsible for subsequent hook-up of the platform at the field centre, an operation which will involve up to 600 employees in rotation until summer of 2019.

 

The Johan Sverdrup drilling platform will soon head for Aibel’s yard in Haugesund.