Structural issues prolong Njord shutdown offshore Norway

Sept. 27, 2013
Statoil has postponed a resumption of production at the Njord field in the Norwegian Sea after completing a maintenance turnaround.

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Statoil has postponed a resumption of production at the Njord field in the Norwegian Sea after completing a maintenance turnaround.

Extensive analysis and inspection work performed during the summer shutdown revealed a need for reinforcements to numerous beams in the platform structure. The work required may continue into mid-2014.

At the same time, Statoil has performed a wide-ranging analysis and inspection program to assess the status of the entire platform, to verify its strength under varying weather and load conditions. Analysis suggests some of the deck’s structures are too heavily loaded.

Production at Njord was stopped on July 27 and the platform was then emptied of oil and gas. The plan at the time was to resume production in mid-September.

PartnerFaroe Petroleum pointed out that Njord has already undergone significant upgrades, including further riser replacements and commissioning of the water injection system for the Hyme subsea satellite that came onstream in March, but which too is presently shut-in.

9/27/2013