Production from the Skrugard and Havis fields will be tied in to a semi-submersible floating installation through a subsea production system. The oil will be transported through a 280-kilometre pipeline from Skrugard to shore in Finnmark.
According to project leader for the Skrugard field Erik Strand Tellefsen, Statoil has much experience in working with this kind of solution. But the company does not want to take unnecessary large technological risks in the new area:
“Since this is the northernmost field we have ever developed there are some technological challenges we have had to solve”, he says to Teknisk Ukeblad.
Skrugard is located in the Barents Sea, about 100 km north of the Snøhvit field, 150 km from the Goliat field and nearly 240 km from Melkøya LNG plant outside Hammerfest. The water depth is 360-390 metres.
The field is located quite far from the ice edge, but according to calculations the edge can reach as far south as the Skrugard field every 2400 year. Statoil has had to tak this into consideration in its project. Supply vessels with ice breaking capacity are one of the solutions. Such vessels do not exist today and has to be designed before production starts, Tellefsen says.
Another new invention Statoil plans to employ in the Arctic is nano paint. When sea spray hits the legs of the platform or chain cables, it freezes to ice. This ice can become very tick and heavy and can constitute a danger to facilities. The company believes nano-technology based paint can be the solution to this problem. Nano paint prevents ice from sticking to structures, but has never been tested on offshore facilities.
Other technological problems Statoil is working on solving before production starts is how to ensure proper ventilation in the process area. Normally the process area is open, but in temperatures reaching down to -18°C it will have to be closed.
