The subsea facility on the Ormen Lange field in the Norwegian Sea was on Friday connected up to the pipelines that will transport the gas to the landfall plant in Nyhamna, Møre og Romsdal.
The connection marks the end of season's work to complete the subsea facility and associated pipelines before the Ormen Lange field comes on stream in October 2007.
"Another important milestone has been reached on the Ormen Lange project. The job was expertly completed with the help of Saipem's construction vessel Normand Cutter. The task was a close collaboration between equipment supplier FMC and installation contractor Saipem," says project director for the Ormen Lange development, Tom Røtjer.
The pipelines between the subsea installations on the Ormen Lange field have now been connected and everything prepared enabling the West Navigator to continue drilling.
"We are very pleased to have completed the link-up as planned. This means that a considerable offshore challenge has now been met and all is ready for West Navigator and the further tasks to be undertaken in the spring," explains Røtjer.
Great depths, an uneven seabed and strong currents, combined with sub-zero temperatures, extreme wind conditions and enormous waves have all made Ormen Lange a complicated and challenging project in both the planning and implementation phases. All this has brought forth innovative technology and new solutions for matching the equipment to the conditions.
"The connection job was especially challenging because all the equipment used was newly developed and custom made. But we succeeded mainly owing to the extensive testing of equipment we carried out together with FMC ahead of the operations. In addition the cooperation on design, fabrication, and the preparations in general between Hydro, FMC and Saipem, have each been important success factors," says Røtjer.
Some mapping and gravel dumping work will continue throughout the autumn.