Norwegian Oil History is 40 years old

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Norway is celebrating 50 years since first oil by awarding the largest number of new blocks for exploration:

As Norway marks 50 years with oil, it awards biggest ever number of new blocks

Yes in Norway exploration blocks are awarded, not sold to highest bidder.

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The final lifts to install the platform decks and bridges on the Johan Sverdrup Field was completed in 72 hrs. using the Pioneering Spirit and Thialf:

Equinor: Record-breaking lift completes the Johan Sverdrup field centre

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Statfjord A platform to be scrapped 2022:

Statfjord A. Photo: Harald Pettersen / Equinor

Statfjord A will be cut up at Stord

Statfjord A will be cut up at Stord after 43 years of service on the Norwegian shelf.
by Elisabeth Seglem / Stavanger Aftenblad
Published 02.05.2019 09:37 / Updated 03.05.2019 12:25

In 2022, production from the Statfjord A platform stops, after 43 years, writes Stavanger Aftenblad .

Now the contract for removal and lifting has been awarded, and the platform deck will be cut up on Stord - where it was built in the 1970s, writes Equinor in a press release Thursday morning.

The contract covering engineering, pre-work, removal and removal is awarded to Excalibur Marine Contractors, a company in the Allseas group. Kværner AS at Stord is subcontractor to Excalibur.

A simple lift

The 48,000-tonne platform deck should be removed from the concrete legs in a single lift of the Allseas vessel Pioneering Spirit.

The vessel has not yet made such heavy lifting. Today, the vessel has a lifting capacity of 48,000 tonnes, as much as Statfjord A platform deck. The lifting capacity must be increased before the lift is carried out.

NOK 1500 billion

Statfjord A is one of the oldest platforms on the Norwegian shelf. Originally, the plan was to close Statfjord A in 1999, but since then the platform has received major upgrades and its lifetime has been extended several times. Since the start of November 24, 1979, the Statfjord field has produced more than five billion barrels of oil and gas at a total value of more than NOK 1 500 billion.

• Statfjord A has meant a lot to many. The platform has created enormous values, many jobs and a proud history. Closing production and removing the installation is part of the lifecycle of a platform, and we want to make sure that it is done in a safe and secure manner while preserving personnel and expertise in a late phase, says Hege Flatheim, who is Statfjord’s production director. in the press release.
  
  
  
  The oil drilling platform Statfjord A is towed to the field in the North Sea in 1977. In 2022 production will be stopped. Stock Photo: NTB scanpix

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First oil (called “Champagne oil” due to it’s good quality) has arrived at Mongstad. First cargo of 1 Mill Bbls. will be loaded on a Suezmax next week for transport to China via Suzes Canal:

Minister of Petroleum and Energy Kjell Børge Freiberg. Photo: Adrian Søgnen

Here comes the champagne oil to Mongstad

Oil from the giant field Johan Sverdrup in the North Sea provides increased activity at Mongstad.

by Marie Misund Bringslid

Published 21.10.2019 14:02 / Updated 21.10.2019 14:36

• This is industrial history that is written, says Oil and Energy Minister Kjell-Børge Freiberg (Frp) to Sysla.

On Monday, he was able to drain the “first oil” from the Johan Sverdrup field at the Mongstad plant, north of Bergen, with the help of 19-year-old Sander Rath, an apprentice in Equinor.

Want more discoveries

The oil is transported in pipes from the Sverdrup field in the North Sea, a distance of 283 kilometers. At Mongstad, the oil is stored in so-called caverns, which are mountain halls, and prepared for further transport by ship to markets around the world.

• There is only one thing I wish for today, and that is that we will find more Johan Sverdrup fields, says Freiberg.

The Sverdrup oil is expected to generate revenues of more than NOK 1400 billion over the next 50 years, of which more than NOK 900 billion goes to the Norwegian state and society.

• The pipes here at Mongstad are welfare pipes in the proper sense. I can’t think of a better description, says Freiberg.

The first shipload of Sverdrup oil is expected to go from Mongstad to customers in Asia this week.

The first cargo will be shipped to China via the Orpheas tanker, via the Suez Canal.

Future loads are expected to hold between 600,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels. The first load is one million barrels, which with an oil price of $ 60 per barrel will have a market value of about $ 60 million, or over half a billion.

Production on the Sverdrup field started on October 5. The date enters into Norwegian oil history - the field is the third largest on the Norwegian continental shelf and the first giant expansion since the 1980s.

Operator Equinor delivered the development plan to Johan Sverdrup in February 2015. The project entailed investments of around NOK 100 billion. At about the same time, one of the worst oil crises in a long time hit the Norwegian continental shelf.

Late in the evening on Wednesday, October 16, the very first oil arrived at the plant at Mongstad.

• It’s a real “once in a lifetime” experience. I am very happy that everything has gone well and we have managed to do this without incident, says factory manager at Mongstad Rasmus F. Wille to Sysla.

It is expected that the plant at Mongstad will receive up to 440,000 barrels of oil per day from Johan Sverdrup when the first phase of the development produces fully.

When the second phase is completed in 2022, Mongstad will receive up to 660,000 barrels of oil per day, and when Sverdrup produces at its peak, Mongstad will receive more than 30 percent of the oil from the Norwegian continental shelf.

With oil from the Johan Sverdrup field, the number of ship calls at Mongstad increases from 1500 to the year to around 1700. When the second phase is completed, it is expected that the number of calls will exceed 2000 per year.

• This means a lot to the activity, and I feel that all the employees have a very large ownership of the project, says Wille.

(Google translated from Sysla today)

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Not sure if you can read this article in Sysla today?:

I dag er det 50 år siden Ekofisk ble funnet

But here is at least a translation of the headline above:

Today is 50 years since Ekofisk was found

The giant discovery was the start of the oil age that changed Norway. In total, Ekofisk has created values ​​for approximately NOK 2,500 billion.

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@ombugge

The first load is one million barrels, which with an oil price of 60 per barrel will have a market value of about 60 million, or over half a billion.

Somebody didn’t do sanity checking on that number. Sixty million isn’t over half a billion. Even if you use American billions (a thousand million) it’s off by a factor of ten. If they’re talking European billions (a million million) it’s off by a factor of ten thousand.

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You are observant. I’m pretty sure the “half a billion” refers to 500 Mill. NOK, ($1 = NOK 9.29)
I’m also pretty sure you realised that (??)

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I didn’t, but it makes sense.

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It is now 30 years since the Troll A Condeep platform was towed out and positioned on the Troll Gas Field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea:

To put it in perspective:

Comparison of Troll A Platform & Eiffel Tower

At 472 meters high, with underwater concrete structure at 369 meters, and dry weight of 656,000 tons, the Troll A platform is a majestic piece of design and construction. Not only is Troll A among the largest and most complex engineering projects in history, it is the largest object ever to be moved by man across the surface of the Earth. The platform was a televised sensation when it was towed into the North Sea in 1996, where it is still operated by Equinor (previously Statoil).

Source: Troll-A Platform: Largest Object Ever Moved by Man | Amusing Planet

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A concrete platform that differ from the norm:

Photo: tormod.haukaas

Draugen Platform: An Engineering Marvel

PS: It is not always as calm as it looks in the above:

22 meter høye bølger ved Draugen

Production shut down - Draugen