Innovations in Installation and Pipeline Technology by the Johan Sverdrup Project

In order to deliver on the ambitious schedule for the Johan Sverdrup development, the operator and the Johan Sverdrup-partners also needed to make some innovative bets on new technology. This paper explores two areas – innovations in installation and pipeline technology – that played a key role in the development of the mega-project. In particular the decision to qualify and become the world`s first user of the single-lift installation technology developed for the vessel Pioneering Spirit ended up changing the very concept for construction, installation and completion of three of the four topsides that make up the Johan Sverdrup field center in the first phase of the development. The technology – developed by the installation contractor and qualified for first use worldwide by the operator – saved an estimated 2.5 million offshore manhours from the offshore completion phase, which significantly reduced safety risks and helped shave months off the development schedule. The first-ever use of the technology to install topsides took place in June 2018 with the single-lift installation of the drilling platform topsides on the Johan Sverdrup field. And in March 2019, the two remaining topsides weighing a total of 44,000 tonnes were lifted in place in the span of only 3 days, including the heaviest offshore lift ever executed with the installation of the 26,500 tonnes processing platform. The paper also intends to explore how the same innovative mindset and focus also played a role in introducing new pipeline technology – in particular, the world`s first use of remote-controlled and diver-less hyperbaric welding of the ‘’36 oil export pipeline to the Johan Sverdrup riser platform. The paper also discusses how the project benefited from further industrialization of the hot-tapping technology used for the first time by the operator in 2012 on the Åsgard subsea project, when connecting the Johan Sverdrup gas export pipeline to the ‘live’ Statpipe gas pipeline. Part 1 of this paper covers single lift installation of topsides, Part 2 covers diver less hyperbaric welding.