Subsea 7 grants ABB $170Mln power cable deal
Subsea 7 has chosen ABB to build a power link between two North Sea oil and gas fields and the Norwegian power grid, ABB announced on 6 December 2012.
The project will power Total's Martin Linge (formely Hild) field with the world's longest subsea AC link, a 162 km long high voltage submarine power cable. While the field has a water depth of 115m, the cable will sit 370m below sea level at its deepest point, ABB said.
The scope of the project includes the technical pre-studies, design, engineering, production and installation of the high-voltage cable system. The cable link will power a wellhead and production platform, a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel.
“This electricity cable connection will help reduce environmental impact,” said Brice Koch, head of ABB's Power System division. “ABB has the in-house manufacturing capability as well as the technical knowhow, domain knowledge and experience required to execute such a complex project.”
The 145 kilovolt high-voltage three-core polymeric insulated (XLPE) submarine cable will be capable of supplying up to 55 megawatts of AC power from the mainland grid to the new Martin Linge field. The cable will include fiber optic links to allow the facilities to be controlled from shore.
Production from Martin Linge is expected in 2016.