Gudrun is in place

"The operation has been safe and efficient with favourable sea conditions," says Øyvind Haugsdal, transport and installation manager for the Gudrun project.

He has been planning this lifting operation for the last three and a half years:

"It was an incredible feeling to watch it all go as planned," he says.

The platform deck was positioned on the jacket at 17:43 on Thursday. The lifting operation marks one of the most important milestones in the project.

Gudrun reached its full height of 232.5 metres when the flare tower was lifted into place on Friday morning.

The platform deck and jacket will now be connected and the platform will be prepared for production.

On time - under budget

"The most significant milestone in the project is the start of production in the first quarter of next year. We will achieve that too," says Øystein Michelsen, executive vice president for Development & Production Norway in Statoil.

The field development is on track to cost around NOK 2 billion less than the original investment framework of NOK 21 billion. There are several reasons for this:

"We were given good prices when we awarded the contracts in 2010, in a market characterised by the financial crisis," says Margaret Øvrum, executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling in Statoil.

This was a win-win situation. The Gudrun license received favourable pricing and the suppliers received crucial contracts.

"Just as important were the strict change controls during the project and strong commitment across the entire Gudrun organisation in order to meet this savings target. All the different disciplines have contributed," Øvrum says.

The decking contract (engineering work, construction and procurement) was awarded to Aibel.

The engineering work was carried out in Norway and Singapore. Two of the deck modules were constructed at Aibel's shipyard in Thailand and one at the shipyard in Haugesund, with supplies from Poland.

The deck was also connected in Haugesund. The helicopter deck came from China and the living quarters were supplied by Apply Leirvik.

The steel jacket, which has already been ready at sea for nearly two years, was supplied by Kværner Verdal. Transport and installation were performed by the Italian company Saipem.

Facts

Licensees: Statoil, operator (75 per cent) and GDF SUEZ E&P Norge (Norway) (25 per cent) Gudrun is an oil and gas field situated in the middle of the Norwegian part of the North Sea (license area PL025). The field is situated approximately 55 kilometres north of the Sleipner installations. Gudrun was discovered in 1975. The extractable reserve is 126.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (around 2/3 oil, 1/3 gas and NGL) Gudrun has a process facility for partial stabilisation of oil and gas. Transport of oil and gas to the Sleipner A platform Oil is transported to Kårstø while the gas is transported to the European markets via gas pipes connected to Sleipner. The reservoir is situated at a depth of 4,200-4,700 metres and dates back to the Jurassic period. The pressure in the reservoir reaches as much as 860 bar, with a temperature of up to 150 degrees Celsius. The platform is equipped with 16 well slots and a total of 7 production wells will be drilled. Available slots may be used for further wells to further increase production from Gudrun or wells from other fields. At the end of June, 15.5 million working hours had been spent on the Gudrun project. The platform deck weighs 10,600 tonnes and the steel jacket, which has been in the sea for nearly two years, weighs around 7,000 tonnes. 110 kilometres of pipelines (two pipelines of 55 kilometres each) have been laid in the sea bed between Gudrun and Sleipner, as well as 55 kilometres of power cable. 430,000 metres of cabling has been installed and 2,855 valves have been fitted in the deck, which is equipped with living quarters containing 42 cabins.