T he Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has given Marathon consent to carry out manned underwater operations on the Volund and Alvheim fields in the North Sea using the vessel DSV Seven Pelican.
The consent relates to carrying out manned underwater operations (MUO) in 2010 and includes well work on Volund and Alvheim, and also necessary inspection, repair and maintenance on the fields during the period. The work will be performed with the diving support vessel DSV Seven Pelican, which is owned by Marathon’s diving contractor Subsea 7.
Water depth in the Alvheim and Volund area is 120-130 meters.
Alvheim
Alvheim is an oil and gas field in the northern part of the North Sea, close to the border with the British shelf. The field is developed with a production ship (Alvheim FPSO) and subsea wells, and started production in 2008. The oil is exported using tankers, while the processed rich gas is exported via pipeline to the SAGE system on the UK shelf.
Marathon is Alvheim’s operator, with an ownership interest of 60 percent. The other licensees are ConocoPhillips (20 per cent) and Lundin (15 percent). The field is part of production license 203.
Volund
The Volund field is located approx. eight kilometers south of Alvheim. This oil field is developed with three subsea wells tied to the Alvheim FPSO. Volund started production in 2009.
Volund is part of production license 150, where Marathon is the operator, with an ownership interest of 65 percent. The remaining 35 percent of the production licence is owned by Lundin.
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Source: ptil, June 30, 2010