Wintershall’s unmanned mini-platform L6-B started the production of natural gas off the Dutch North Sea coast in a restricted military zone.
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The L6-B unmanned platform. |
The platform, located in field L6-B, has a minimal design that allows for installation is such an area and makes Wintershall Noordzee the first company allowed to operate in this particular military zone.
“The installation needs to be as small as possible, and may well be the smallest topside known,” Wintershall said.
According to the company, the facility is anchored in the seabed through suction piles, rises about 18m above the sea and has three decks, but no helideck. The facility can accommodate a maximum of two producing wells and since there is only minimum processing equipment on the platform, the expected visit frequency is low.
The mini platform’s substructure weighs 1100 tons and the topside weighs about100 tons. The adjacent L8-P4 platform that weighs 4500 tons, is where the mini-platform is controlled, operated and supplied with electricity. A pipeline transports the gas produced in L6-B to the neighboring platform L8-P4, the company said.
“The advantage of this new generation of platforms is that they can be deployed in particularly shallow waters and can economically produce even from very small natural gas fields. Furthermore, they can cut down on costs thanks to the short time needed for construction and the simple installation. The costs for such a platform are less than half of a conventional satellite platform,” Wintershall said.
The company’s first “minimum facility platform,” was built in four months and was in its offshore location in June 2014.
At the end of April, Wintershall’s unmanned Ravn platform was towed out to the Danish sector of the North Sea for installation to produce the Ravn field in License 5/06, which is scheduled for start up at the end of 2015.
Wintershall operates 25 offshore platforms in Dutch, German, and UK waters of the North Sea.
Read more:
Ravn heading for Danish sector
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