Production of the first elements on the Johan Sverdrup project has begun. On Monday 29 June Kværner metal worker Stian Myrvold Green started up the machine that will cut the steel for the riser platform jacket on the Johan Sverdrup field, the company said in its press release.
The steel jacket now being built at Kværner Verdal will weigh 26 500 tonnes, making it the biggest steel jacket in Europe.
The steel jacket for the riser platform will be transported and installed on the Johan Sverdrup field in 2017. Due to its size, the jacket will be shipped out to the field on the biggest barge in the world for this type of transport, Heeremas H-851. In order to receive the 260 metre-long barge, the quay at Kværner Verdal is being upgraded.
The steel jacket is not the only Johan Sverdrup element currently under construction. The 246-tonne template for the wells, to be pre-drilled on the field from March 2016, is being produced at Vlissingen in The Netherlands. The well template will be installed on the field in the course of the summer/autumn 2015.
The Johan Sverdrup partnership consists of Statoil, Lundin Norway, Petoro, Det norske oljeselskap and Maersk Oil. The partnership has recommended that Statoil be operator for all the field’s phases.