The storage vessel Njord Bravo was unloaded on Haltenbanken on Tuesday with the help of personnel from the operational organization onshore. This was due to a reorganization that aims to extend the lifetime of the Njord field.
The operational organization for Njord as of 1 September is made up operations and campaign teams. The reorganization is similar to the one carried out on the Brage field, which also aimed to extend the life of the field.
The maintenance teams are responsible for the Njord A platform and the storage vessel Njord Bravo, which is usually distance-operated from the platform. The operations team follows a normal shift system, so that around 23 persons are always on duty.
The campaign team concentrates on maintenance jobs that can be planned well in advance. This team also operates with a shift rota, but the team is not replaced during free periods. One of the tasks falling to the campaign team is the unloading of Njord Bravo.
"When the campaign team is not available, there isn't the manning to take care of the unloading from Njord Bravo, so we have taken a step further than other installations: we call in people from the operational organization in Kristiansund," explains offshore installation manager Erik Abrahamsen.
The new system was put into practice for the first time on Tuesday. The land personnel travelled out to the Njord field on Monday, unloaded the vessel on Tuesday, and returned to land on Wednesday. On Thursday they were back in their offices in Kristiansund.
Njord NEXT
The reorganization is part of the project Njord NEXT (Njord Extended Time), which started one year ago and submitted its final report in March.
"This project aims to extend the lifetime of the field through increasing the rate of recovery and reducing costs. The reorganization makes it possible to save NOK 60-70 million per year. What this means in terms of lifetime for the field depends on the development of the oil price, but we also expect an extension of the field's lifetime through the export of gas in the last phase of production," says Abrahamsen.
He praises the positive attitude the employees and the employee organization have shown during the reorganization.
"Everyone has shown understanding for the need to work together and find new solutions to maintain economically viable operations on Njord," says Erik Abrahamsen.