A two-week turnaround on Statoil's Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea from 14 April will include work for the Gullfaks satellites phase II project.
The principal job is to prepare for the August lift-on of two 800-tonne modules for processing and wellstream respectively, reports construction operations manager Morten F Krogh. And the platform flaring system will also be upgraded.
Roughly 650 people are being mobilised for the turnaround, and the Regalia flotel is due to moor alongside Gullfaks C on 13 April to provide supplementary accommodation.
Plans call for some 40,000 hours to be worked for the phase II project during the shutdown. In addition, the Gullfaks operations organisation will devote 15-20,000 hours in maintenance to the existing facilities.
The project – which covers gas production from Gullfaks South – is costed at NOK 4.3 billion, not counting a gas export pipeline.
Ninety per cent of the phase II work is due to be completed by 31 December, with completion and testing of the facilities being pursued until gas deliveries start on 1 October 2001.
"This is a very busy year for us, but we're now at the halfway mark and the signs are encouraging for finishing on schedule," says Mr Krogh.
Gullfaks South will make the main field a substantial gas supplier, with the export line linking the C and A platforms to Statoil's Statpipe trunkline due to carry five billion cubic metres annually for European markets.
Gas is thereby expected to play a more important role than oil in the final decade of output from Gullfaks, with satellite gas making a substantial contribution to extending the field's producing life.