Sweden’s ABB has won a US$90 million contract to supply a two-cable high-voltage system to power, from shore, for Statoil’s Johan Sverdrup field.
The move paves the way for the entire Johan Sverdrup field to be powered from shore, as well as other fields on Norway’s Utsira High, in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, west of Stavanger.
Supplying electric power from shore for offshore oil and gas production avoids the need to burn diesel or gas out at sea to power the equipment and machinery on the platforms, resulting in substantial reductions in CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions.
In addition, the cable solution is safer and more energy-efficient than generating the power offshore using fossil fuels, according to ABB.
The two, 200km-long cables, designed to supply 100MW at 80kV, as well as fiber optics for communications, will cover the power needed for the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development, due on stream in 2019.
ABB’s contract also covers options for delivering high-voltage cables from shore to the Johan Sverdrup field to meet the power requirement of a full development of the Johan Sverdrup field as well as the Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen and Gina Krog fields on the Utsira High.
The Johan Sverdrup is on the Utsira High, 155km west of Stavanger, and is one of the five biggest oil fields on the Norwegian continental shelf. The field is approximately 1900m deep, in 110-120m water depth, and covers about 200sq km.
Statoil says that as of 2015, investment costs for full field development are estimated to be in the region of $22.3-28.9 billion, with recoverable resources of between 1.7 and 3.0 billion boe.
According to Wood Mackenzie's report titled 'Statoil FID on oil price defying giant– Norway's Johan Sverdrup' the field will cost $31 billion to develop and will produce 600,000 boe/d at its peak.
Last month, the development’s pre-drilling template was installed, the project was also given official project section by Norwegian authorities and the unitization agreement was signed.
The power cables will be fabricated at ABB’s plant in Karlskrona, the high-voltage cables will be laid from Haugsneset in Tysvær municipality north of Stavanger to the Johan Sverdrup field center on the Utsira High. The power cables will then be pulled up to the riser platform at the Johan Sverdrup field center. The cables will be buried into the seabed or covered by rocks, as required.
In March, ABB was awarded an order to supply the two High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter stations for the same project. One will be located onshore at Haugsneset, where it will turn alternating current (AC) from the grid into DC, which can be transmitted efficiently over 200 km to the second station which is on one of the oil platforms. There, the DC current will be converted back into AC and distributed to the rest of the field.
The first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development includes all the preparations needed for land-based power supply for a full Johan Sverdrup development as well as other fields on the Utsira High by 2022.
The Johan Sverdrup field partners are: Statoil 40.0267% (operator), Lundin Norway 22.6%, Petoro 17.36%, Det norske oljeselskap 11.5733% and Maersk Oil 8.44%.
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Lighting the way – power from shore
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