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Successful lift on Gullfaks C

August 23, 2000, 16:30 CEST

Two large modules weighing roughly 750 and 850 tonnes respectively were lifted into place on Statoil's Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea on 22 August.

This operation was an important element in modifications being made to the installation as part of Phase II of the Gullfaks satellites project.

The platform is being converted to start receiving gas from Gullfaks South and Rimfaks in the autumn of 2001.

"Another milestone has been passed," says Morten F Krogh, development manager for Gullfaks satellites. "The modules were delivered ahead of schedule and in very good condition."

Both modules were built at the Aker McNulty yard in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. The lift was performed by Heerema with its Thialf vessel.

The next high point in the project is the two-week turnaround which begins on 16 October, when some 200 people will carry out a range of jobs - including hot work.

Intended to prepare Gullfaks C for a new era as a gas treatment platform, this shut-down will be supplemented by a further turnaround next April-May.

Fifty billion cubic metres of gas from the two satellites are due to be piped to Gullfaks A and C between 1 October 2001 and 2015. This will double throughput on the platforms.

The gas will be carried from the satellites in a 14-kilometre flowline bundle, recently put in place, and delivered to continental Europe via Statoil's Kårstø complex north of Stavanger.