Statoil awards world's first subsea gas compression contract

Gene Kliewer • Houston

Aker Solutions has been awarded the Åsgard subsea compression system contract by Statoil. The contract value is approximately NOK 3.4 billion ($582.7 million).

Aker’s scope of work includes a subsea compressor manifold station, subsea compressor station template structure, three identical compressor trains, all electrical control systems, high voltage electrical power distribution system, topside equipment, and tooling, transport and installation equipment.

Åsgard is at Haltenbanken outside Norway in water depths varying from 240-310 m (787-1,017 ft). The Midgard and Mikkel reservoirs contain gas and condensate that are transported through long distance flowlines to the Åsgard B platform.

The project will be managed out of Aker Solutions’ in Oslo, Norway, while the equipment primarily will come from Aker Solutions’ facilities in Egersund, and Tranby, Norway, and in Aberdeen, UK. Final equipment deliveries will be made in stages with the manifold station and the compressor station template delivered in 2013 and the compressor trains, controls, and power equipment delivered in 2014.

“This award signifies a quantum leap for subsea gas compression within the oil and gas industry,” said Mads Andersen, executive vice president of Aker Solutions’ subsea business area.

As reservoir gas is produced, reservoir pressure decreases and the well flow may need boosting in the form of compression. In many instances, subsea compression technology is necessary to create enough pressure for the hydrocarbons to travel up the pipelines to the receiving terminal.

“We are extremely pleased to be chosen for this huge milestone contract with Statoil. The synergies we have developed with Statoil on the Ormen Lange gas compression pilot project have given us valuable experience which we can now transfer to this project,” said Andersen.

Chevron contracts subsea work at Jack, St. Malo

Technip has won a contract from Chevron North America Exploration and Production to develop the Jack and St-Malo fields, in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico at a water depth of approximately 7,000 ft (2,100 m).

The contract covers the engineering, fabrication, and subsea installation of more than 53 mi (85 km) of 10 ¾-in. outside diameter of flowlines, steel catenary risers, pipeline end terminations, manifolds, pump stations, and tie-in skids.

Technip in Houston will handle project management. The flowlines and risers will be welded at the spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama. Offshore installation is scheduled to use Technip’s deepwater pipelay vesselDeep Blue in 2013.

Shell, FMC to work on multiple projects

FMC Technologies Inc. has agreed to supply subsea and topside systems for Shell Offshore Inc.’s West Boreas field development in the GoM. West Boreas is in Mississippi Canyon block 762, in water depths of approximately 3,100 ft (945 m).

FMC’s scope includes six 15,000 psi (103 MPa) subsea production trees, subsea and topside controls, one manifold, and related systems and equipment. Deliveries are to start in 3Q 2012.

“West Boreas will be the first field to utilize FMC’s 15,000 psi enhanced vertical deepwater tree system,” said John Gremp, president and COO of FMC Technologies. “It is also the first tieback to Shell’s new Olympus tension leg platform, and we are pleased to support this development with our leading subsea systems and services.”

Shell also has contracted FMC Technologies to supply subsea and topside systems for the Cardamom Deep project, also in the GoM.

Cardamom Deep is a subsea tieback to Shell’s Auger TLP. The field is in Garden Banks block 426 in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in water depths of approximately 2,860 ft (872 m).

FMC’s scope includes five 15,000 psi subsea production trees, subsea and topside controls, manifold and tie-in equipment, and other systems and services. Deliveries are to start in 3Q 2011.

Statoil awards $75 Million Vigdis North-East project

FMC also has agreed to supply Statoil subsea production equipment to support the Vigdis North-East development. The award has a value of approximately $75 million.

Vigdis North-East is a fasttrack oil and gas field in water depths of approximately 920 ft (280 m) in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. FMC’s scope includes the manufacture of four subsea trees, one manifold, subsea and topside control systems, and an umbilical. The equipment will be based on a standard subsea designed by FMC for Statoil. Deliveries are to start in 3Q 2011.

Petrobras places $74 million order with Cameron

Cameron has an order from Petrobras for 27 subsea trees and related equipment worth approximately $74 million for use offshore Brazil. The order represents the remaining trees under a 138-tree frame agreement announced in September 2009.

Cameron received a purchase order for the initial 111 trees and associated equipment at the time the frame agreement was signed. Deliveries of the trees are scheduled to begin during 2011 and continue over four years.

Cameron President and CEO Jack B. Moore said, “We are pleased to have the opportunity to build on our history as a primary supplier of equipment and services in the Brazilian market, and we look forward to continuing our support of Petrobras’ developments and our ongoing investment in Brazil.”

Moore noted that the trees included in this latest order incorporate enhanced drill-through capability that will provide significant cost and time savings.

Hess contracts South Arne pipeline bundle

Subsea 7 Inc. says now that the North Sea Pipeline Bundle contract award it announced late this past year is with Hess ApS for the South Arne field in the Danish sector of the North Sea. The contract value exceeds of $55 million.

The Subsea 7 work scope is to engineer, procure, fabricate, install, and commission a 2.2 km (almost 1.4 mi) bundle system. Also in the scope are the associated subsea tie-ins and testing and pre-commissioning works.

The pipeline bundle system will be installed using the controlled depth tow method (CDTM) and will connect two new platforms, Well Head Platform East and Well Head Platform North. The two platforms are scheduled to be installed in the South Arne field in 2012.

Engineering is at Subsea 7’s Stavanger, Norway, office. Fabrication will be at the company’s North Sea bundle fabrication site in Wick, northern Scotland, in 2Q 2011, with offshore operations scheduled to commence in late 2011.

South Arne is in the Danish sector of the North Sea, in block DK 5604/29. The water depth is 60 m (197 ft).

The pipeline bundle technology is unique to Subsea 7, the company says. It allows efficiencies by incorporating the required flow lines, water injection, gas lift, and control systems within a steel carrier pipe. At each end of the pipeline, the structures, manifolds, incorporating equipment, and valves, designed to the requirements of the field, are attached. The fully tested system then is launched and transported to the site using the controlled depth tow method.

The CDTM developed by Subsea 7 involves the transport of pre-fabricated and tested pipelines, control lines, and umbilicals in a bundle configuration suspended between two tow vessels. Once launched from the onshore site, the bundle is transported to its offshore location at a controlled depth below the surface. On arrival at the field, the bundle is lowered to the seabed, maneuvered into place and the carrier pipe is flooded to stabilize the bundle in its final position.