The riser platform, which is located 140km west to the shore near Stavanger, will handle all oil and gas exports from the Johan Sverdrup field. It will export oil and gas from the Johan Sverdrup reservoir to land, with gas to Kårstø and oil to Mongstad.
It will be the first of four platforms to be put into place in the NOK117bn ($14.61bn) phase 1 of the Johan Sverdrup development, which is slated to begin production in late 2019.
The riser platform will also accommodate the power converter, which will help the Norwegian offshore field to be powered with clean electricity from shore.
Samsung Heavy Industries was given a contract worth around $888m in June 2015 to build the riser platform and the process platform. The riser platform will transport the crude oil produced by the Johan Sverdrup field to the process platform, which will help in oil stabilization and processing into rich gas.
The other two platforms are the drilling platform and the accommodation platform.
Statoil said that during the next weeks and months, the Johan Sverdrup project will see installation of more than 400km of pipelines, 200km of power cables, the drilling platform, two jackets and also a bridge.
The first topside of the Johan Sverdrup development has been completed within 20 months, said Statoil.
Statoil Johan Sverdrup senior vice president Kjetel Digre said: “With this milestone we firmly take a step into the final phase of the project. These operations have been carefully planned, drawing on Statoil’s significant experience in this area.
“Even so, given the significant installation scope in the Johan Sverdrup project we’re entering into an exciting but complex period, with safety always as the highest priority. With the riser platform in place, however, we have taken a significant step forward in preparation for start-up late next year.”
Statoil, with a stake of over 40%, is the operator of the Johan Sverdrup field, which is estimated to hold 2.1 billion to 3.1 billion barrels of oil equivalents. Lundin Norway (22.6%), Petoro (17.36%), AkerBP (11.5733%) and Total (8.44%) through the acquisition of Maersk Oil are the other partners in the Johan Sverdrup development.
