Statoil to pursue Norne tieback program

Offshore staff

OSLO, Norway -- Statoil Petroleum has approval from Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) Norway for two programs in the Norwegian Sea.

The semisubWest Alpha will drill and complete well 6507/3-L-4 AH on the Alve field and do intervention in well 6608/10-J-2 H on the Urd field. Both fields are connected to the Norne production vessel via subsea facilities. Drilling on Alve will not start before mid-February 2011 at the earliest. This operation should last 60-75 days. Work on Urd should take 16 days.

PSA has also cleared Talisman Energy Norge to use the new semisubmersible living quarters facilityFloatel Superior to support installation and completion of the Yme field production platform.

Floatel Superior is a DP-3 facility with a living quarters module astern and an open work deck forward, built by Keppel FELS in Singapore. It can accommodate a crew of 440 in single cabins when operating on the Norwegian shelf.

01/04/2010