All set for new exploration wells in the Barents Sea
2010.10.30 -
Subsea Headlines
The three operators, Statoil, Eni and Lundin, together with NOFO (Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies) and local task forces jointly planned and carried out an extensive oil spill response drill on Sørøya in West Finnmark.
Knut Harald Nygård, Statoil’s exploration manager for the Barents Sea. (Photo: Harald Pettersen)
“We’re very experienced when it comes to exploration in the Barents Sea and are keen to test out our emergency response plans before embarking on a new exploration campaign with Eni and Lundin. It’s important to ensure that the cooperation between the companies, NOFO and local task forces works really well before we commence drilling. We are pleased to have achieved our goals for the drill,” says Nygård.
Drill leader Torun Måseide states that all planned drill elements were carried out and that the companies involved are satisfied with the results.
“We have verified that we meet all requirements in our emergency plans,” says Måseide.
In addition to four NOFO ocean going collection systems, consisting of a total 11 vessels with containment booms and collection devices, the Norwegian Coastal Administration and inter-municipal oil spill protection agency in Mid and North Troms supplied personnel and resources for cleaning up the oil along the coast.
The three operator companies will shortly commence four exploration wells in the Barents Sea, the first of which will be drilled by Eni. Statoil will then drill two wells and Lundin one, the first exploration wells drilled in the Barents Sea since 2008. The mobile rig Polar Pioneer will be used on all of them.
Applied Acoustics has recently announced the sale of its 50th Easytrak subsea tracking system at Offshore Europe, Aberdeen. The system is one of a pair that has been ordered by CaspianLab in Azerbaijan for use in their operations in the Caspian Sea.
The Tampen Link pipeline for gas export from the North Sea’s Statfjord field to the St Fergus gas terminal in Scotland opened on Friday evening. The field is consequently beginning a new era.
StatoilHydro, as operator of the Troll field, has recommended to its partners to discontinue the Troll Future Development project.
Petrobras Americas Inc. has awarded Aker Kvaerner a contract to supply subsea power cables and control umbilicals to its Cascade and Chinook fields in the Gulf of Mexico. The contract, worth approximately USD 65 million, represents a significant breakthrough for Aker Kvaerner's power cable technology.
StatoilHydro will today, 25th of October, sign a frame agreement with Gazprom to become partner in the Shtokman development, phase 1.
