Subsea 7 opens North Sea spoolbase
Offshore staff
LONDON -- Subsea 7 has opened a North Sea spoolbase in Vigra, Norway. The base was officially opened by Kristian Siem, chairman of Subsea 7 Inc; Knut Støbakk, the mayor of Giske community; Morten Ruud, executive VP of StatoilHydro; and Mel Fitzgerald, CEO of Subsea 7.
The spoolbase is located beside the airport on the island of Vigra on the northwest coast of Norway, close to the city of Aalesund. The base includes a purpose-built deepwater quay area. The base will employ up to 75 people when working at normal capacity, rising to 120 in peak periods.
The quay is an L-shaped design, enabling the pipelay vessels to moor for the pipeline spooling onto the vessel. This gives the opportunity for pipe spooling and mobilization of equipment simultaneously. Receipt of pipe joints will take place at the same quay and can also be accommodated simultaneously with pipeline spooling activities.
The first project to be undertaken by the base is the fabrication of a gas pipeline for StatoilHydro. The pipeline will run from Kollsnes processing plant to the Mongstad refinery.
04/10/2008