The A platform on Statoil's Statfjord field in the North Sea will shut down tomorrow, 16 September, for a 14-day turnaround.
A total of 47,000 hours are due to be worked during this period, primarily on normal planned maintenance and equipment replacement.
The frequency of turnarounds on Statfjord has been reduced over the past five-six years from yearly to biennial, without increasing the scope of work in each shutdown.
This has been made possible by long experience of inspection programmes for various types of equipment, says operations supervisor Gunnar Kjærland.
In addition come equipment improvements and replacements, as well as a reduction in the number of modification projects on the field.
Just over 200,000 barrels of oil per day are now flowing through Statfjord A, including 50,000 from its own wells and roughly 150,000 from Norsk Hydro's Snorre field.