Twenty-five hours after the deck for the Gudrun platform left Aibel’s shipyard in Haugesund, the deck had been lifted into place on the steel undercarriage in the North Sea. The lifting operation marks one of the most important milestones in the project.
“The operation has been safe and efficient with favourable sea conditions,” says Øyvind Haugsdal, transport and installation manager for the Gudrun project.
Gudrun reached its full height of 232.5m when the flare tower was lifted into place the next morning. The platform deck and undercarriage will now be connected and the platform will be prepared for production.
“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 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 undercarriage, 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.
The field development is on track, and is expected to cost around NOK 2B less than the original investment framework of NOK 21B.
