On September 16th, a ship hauling an oil platform to be installed on the YME field arrived at the port of Stavanger in Norway. With legs fitted, the platform will be towed to the field and, after the necessary preparations, it will start to operate.
Upstream activity
On September 16th, a ship hauling an oil platform to be installed on the YME field arrived at the port of Stavanger in Norway. With legs fitted, the platform will be towed to the field and, after the necessary preparations, it will start to operate.
The Mobile Offshore Production Unit (MOPU) was built by the Adyard shipyard in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. On August 18th 2010, the unit left the shipyard on two barges and was taken to the waters of the Persian Gulf where it was loaded on Mighty Servant I, a semi-submersible vessel used to transport heavy cargo, such as components of offshore platforms.
On the voyage to Stavanger, the ship crossed the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Straits of Gibraltar, the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean.
In Stavanger, three legs made by the Rostock shipyard will be attached to the platform. - It is a complex undertaking - says Paweł Siemek, President of LOTOS Petrobaltic, the parent undertaking of LOTOS E&P Norge. - The legs’ weight is 750 tonnes each. They will be attached to the MOPU using a crane owned by a Dutch company Mammoet, which was brought specifically for that purpose from Saudi Arabia. With the legs attached, the rig will be ready for being hauled to the field.
The Yme field lies approximately 110 km off the coast of Stavanger. The towing operation, planned to take 24 hours, will only be undertaken in good weather conditions. - The average swell height may not exceed two metres during transport and one metre during installation work - explains Helge Thoreby, who supervises the hauling of the platform on behalf of LOTOS E&P Norge.
After the platform has been anchored, we will commence preparations for the start-up and production launch. - We expect that our crude production target of 400 thousand tonnes will be met next year - says Paweł Siemek.
In 2008, LOTOS Norge acquired a 20% interest in the Yme field. The recoverable oil reserves under the acquired licence are estimated at approximately 1.8 million tonnes.
Marcin Zachowicz, Spokesperson for Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, Poland, tel. +48 58 308 75 70, +48 505 050 454, e-mail: marcin.zachowicz@grupalotos.pl
