Statoil’s pre-drilling template installed

Norwegian oil and gas operator Statoil announced Thursday that it was making progress on the North Sea’s Johan Sverdrup development, having completed the installation of the subsea pre-drilling template.

The 280-tonne template was set in place with the Thialf, a crane vessel owned by Dutch marine company Heerema Marine Contractors. The company also designed and constructed the 32-by-10-metre template, which consists of eight well slots for the pre-drilling of production wells. In March 2016, Norwegian shipping company Odfjell’s rig Deepsea Atlantic will begin the pre-drilling programme.

Johan Sverdrup’s drilling platform is scheduled for installation in 2018, with the development slated to come on line at the end of 2019.

Project head Kjetel Digre said in a company statement that contracts and utility packages worth NOK40 billion ($4.88 billion) have already been awarded for the platform pre-engineering process and that more would be given in Autumn.

“The activity level for the Johan Sverdrup project will be substantially increased as new steps are taken in the field development.  We are working closely with the suppliers in the platform pre-engineering process,” Digre said.

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