FMC Technologies and the Grenland Group have built Tordis. The time has come to see the subsea separator off. (Photo: Tor Aas Haug)
At the crack of dawn, Tordis left the yard's quayside aboard a barge for Stavanger, the beginning of an exciting journey to the field.
Once there, Tordis will write a new chapter in Norwegian subsea technology. It is the world's first subsea installation to separate water and sand from oil wells and pump them directly into the bedrock, avoiding the energy-intensive route via a surface platform. This makes it possible to recover an extra 35 million barrels of oil.
"Tordis' journey marks the beginning of an intensive period of activity at sea," says Hans Kristiansen, project manager for Tordis.
"Once installed on the seabed, it will be tied back to the Gullfaks C platform with pipelines and control cables. When everything is tested and ready, we'll turn the start key for the world's first subsea separator."
Tordis is also one of the world's heaviest subsea templates, requiring assistance from an offshore lifting leviathan, Saipem 7000, one of the biggest crane vessels in the world with enough muscle to lower Tordis safely to the seabed.
Tordis will meet Saipem 7000 in Stavanger next week should the weather prove favourable. There, it will be removed from the barge to the deck of Saipem 7000 which will then transport the subsea production facility to the field for installation at the end of next week.
Plans call for Tordis to come on stream in the autumn of 2007.