Current plans call for Statoil’s Snorre A platform in the North Sea and its Vigdis satellite to resume production towards the end of this week.
“A start-up depends in part on maintaining our schedule for the remaining work,” says Øivind Reinertsen, senior vice president for the Tampen cluster.
“We must also complete the planned inspection programme with a positive result. But if everything goes according to plan, we should be back in normal operation before 31 December.”
A gas leak in one of the water and gas injection wells on Snorre A made it necessary to shut down the platform on 28 November.
Subsequent work has concentrated on securing the well, and on inspecting the mooring system for the tension leg platform and the seabed template to document that operation can safely resume.
“Work on the well is in its final phase,” says Mr Reinertsen. “Extensive inspection and documentation has been carried out in close collaboration with our partners and the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA).”
Statoil is submitting its report to the PSA today, 21 December, and a production resumption will also depend on when this agency restores its permission to operate Snorre A.