This year’s Top 5
Eldon Ball • Houston
The editors of Offshore have made their choices for the winners of the Five Star Award – the top five offshore field development projects for 2007 and proudly announce the winners in this issue.
The projects are selected on the basis on best use of innovation in production method, application of technology, and resolution of challenges, along with safety, environmental protection, and project completion time. In no particular order, the top five offshore field development projects for 2007 are:
• Independence Hub – The world’s deepest platform, subsea completion, steel catenary riser (SCR) installation, and export pipeline. Covering 142 blocks or 1,800 sq mi (4,662 sq km) in the Gulf of Mexico, this massive undertaking represents not only a number of industry firsts, but a true example of multiple companies pulling together to reach a common goal. Six companies (Enterprise Products Partners, Helix Energy Solutions, Anadarko, Devon, Dominion, and StatoilHydro) collaborated to bring this $2-billion project from discovery in 2001, to proposal in 2003, to first gas on July 20, 2007. (page 30)
• Kikeh – the first deepwater development offshore Malaysia, established a number of firsts on its way to going from discovery in August 2003 to production in 2007. Milestones for the field included:
- –First deepwater development offshore Malaysia
- –First spar constructed in Malaysia
- –First spar installed outside the Gulf of Mexico
- –First topsides floatover onto a spar
- –First turret-moored FPSO in conjunction with a spar
- –First use of a tender-assisted drilling rig on a spar.(page 38)
• Ormen Lange – This September, the NOK50-billion ($9.16-billion) development delivered first gas to the UK market via Langeled, the world’s longest subsea trunkline. The production scheme is also wholly subsea, and a future development phase could bring the first deployment of subsea compression on the Norwegian shelf. Ormen Lange is Norway’s second largest gas field behind Troll, but in much deeper waters – 850-1,100 m (2,788-3,609 ft), compared with 120 m (393 ft) for Troll in the North Sea. (page 34)
• Snøhvit - StatoilHydro’s Snøhvit field subsea field development project is the first major development on the Norwegian continental shelf without a fixed or floating production unit. Both the subsea production system and pipeline transport is monitored and controlled from a room at Melkoya, where operators can open and close valves on the seabed 143 km (89 mi) away with signals transmitted along fiber-optic cables, and with high-voltage electrical and hydraulic power lines. (page 36)
• Tordis - StaoilHydro’s Tordis field enhanced recovery project made the Top 5 list as the world’s first commercial subsea processing system and integrated subsea separation, boosting, and injection (SSBI) systems. Located in the Norwegian North Sea in 200 m (656 ft) of water, Tordis consists of four fields all developed subsea and producing through a tieback to the Gullfaks C platform. (page 32).
Middle East spending
Over the next five years expect to see spending by Qatar and Iran account for over 50% of Middle East regional spending for offshore development. That’s the conclusion of a report byDr. Roger Knightand George Venturas of Infield Systems. Spend on Qatar’s North field expansion and Al Shaheen field extension is seen in the Qatar totals, especially from 2004 to 2007. The North field was discovered in 1971, but took some 20 years to come onstream, awaiting a suitable LNG market. The field development plan has 30 total phases. In terms of associated fields to come onstream in Qatar, the major activity will be with Shell’s Pearl GTL project and the Qatar Gas IV project, which should be onstream some time in 2009, with further North field expansion work in 2012. Their analysis begins on page 40.
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