Laying of the Kvitebjørn oil and gas pipelines has been completed with the final section of the gas line put in place at the North Sea field’s platform on 17 June.
This transport facility runs for 150 kilometres to the Troll gas processing plant at Kollsnes near Bergen. Laying began at shore on 15 May and was completed on schedule.
Work on laying the 90-kilometre oil pipeline started on 19 April and finished on 11 May. It is tied into the Troll Oil Pipeline II, which runs to Mongstad north of Bergen.
The average daily laying rate was 6.8 kilometres for the oil line and 4.9 kilometres for the larger-diameter gas line.
This does not include waiting on weather, reports Jostein Breivik, project manager for Kvitebjørn pipelaying at operator Statoil.
The work has been done by Dutch company Allseas Marine Contractors, using its Solitaire laybarge.
“We’re very satisfied with the job, and everything has gone according to schedule,” says Mr Breivik, and applauds the good quality of the initial planning.
The pipelines will be tied back next spring to the platform, once the latter has been completed and readied to come on stream. Kvitebjørn is scheduled to start gas deliveries on 1 October 2004.