Eni's floating cylindrical platform for the Goliat field in the Barents Sea arrives in Hammerfest today (April 17) from South Korea after a 63-day voyage covering 15,608 nautical miles, the firm has announced.
The 107m-diameter, 64,000-tonne platform will now undergo final preparations for the first oil production from the Barents Sea. When the field comes on stream later this summer, Goliat will become the world's northernmost producing offshore oil field.
Delivery of the FPSO had been due in 2014, but in May last year, Eni said that conditions to depart at the end of June 2014, and complete commissioning in Norway in Q4 2014, were not in place.
Production start-up was originally scheduled for Q4 2013, but the date was delayed in 2012, due to challenges and increased complexity, on the production platform.
The plan for development and operation for Goliat was submitted in 2009.
The platform has been transported using the Dockwise Vanguard – the world's largest heavy transport vessel. The voyage has been made across the Indian Ocean, around the southern tip of Africa and then north through the Atlantic west of the British Isles.
Image: Goliat on the Dockwise Vanguard
In the fjord outside Hammerfest, the deck of the transport vessel will be submerged to 10m depth, enabling the platform to be floated off into the sea. The facility will then float in its own right and five tugboats will take over the work of moving the 170m-high structure to Ersvika, south-west of Hammerfest.
Once at Ersvika, work to complete final preparations for production will begin. This will include inspections, tests and checks of all systems and equipment. Work on the platform will be a round-the-clock operation. A total of eleven vessels will take part in the in-fjord work phase, which is expected to take between two and three weeks.
Following final preparations at Ersvika, the platform will be towed approximately 80km to the Goliat field location, where it will first be connected to its 14 anchor lines. The umbilicals and risers will be installed and the platform will then be connected to the electrical power cable from the mainland. Finally, the platform and subsea systems will be made ready for production.
Goliat is planned to come on stream in mid-2015. Goliat is planned to produce 178 MMboe during a 15-year production life.The platform was designed by Norway's Sevan Marine in Arendal and built at Hyundai Heavy Industries.
The platform will be supplied with electrical power from the mainland using the longest submarine cable of its type in the world.
The Goliat FPSO has been specially designed and constructed to adapt to the long winter nights and icing hazards typical of the Barents Sea. The platform is fully winterized and designed to withstand 100-year Barents Sea storm conditions. Innovative technologies have been developed in a number of areas, not only to reduce the risks to personnel and the environment, but also to enable the platform to deal with any emergency response situations.
Once in production, the Goliat platform will be manned by about 40 people. The field will be operated from Hammerfest, where Eni Norge has established a 60-strong operations organization. It has been important for Eni Norge to generate industrial spin-offs in northern Norway. This has been achieved by requiring suppliers to establish a local presence and offices in Hammerfest. The result is that as many as 50 companies with bases in Hammerfest have been involved in the supply of goods and services to the Goliat project.
Eni is operator and has 65% interest in Goliat, with Statoil owning the remaining 35%.
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