The 255 meter long Mariner B is now heading home to Scotland from Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea.
Mariner floating storage unit (FSU) has a storage capacity of 850 000 barrels of oil and is built to be operated on the field for 30 years without docking.
Mariner B is expected to arrive at Nigg Energy Park, north of Inverness, in early September. At Nigg a fiscal metering package will be installed on the vessel before it continues out to the field, where it will be anchored, hooked up to risers and carry out other tie-in and pre-commissioning activities.
“Following last year’s successful installation of the steel jacket for the Mariner A platform, we are now getting another key component in place on the field,” said Johan A. Johansen , Statoil’s vice president for Operations on the UKCS.
The Mariner field is located on the East Shetland Platform of the UK North Sea, approximately 95 miles or 150 kilometres east of Shetland.
The field development concept includes a production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform based on a steel jacket – Mariner A – connected to a floating storage unit (FSU), Mariner B.
Production is expected to commence in 2018.