Equinor has awarded a umbilicals supply contract for its recently sanctioned Askellad development offshore Norway. The contract has been awarded to France’s Nexans.
Askeladd is located 35 km South-West of the Snøhvit field and 175 km from the LNG plant at Melkøya. The water depth is approximately 240 -330 meters.
The Askeladd field will cost $610 million to be developed with three wells via two new subsea templates that have space for additional wells in the future. In addition, infrastructure will be installed to tie-in the Askeladd development to the existing Snøhvit field facilities. Askeladd is scheduled to come on stream in the third quarter of 2020.
The well stream from Askeladd will be produced through the existing infrastructure towards the Snøhvit LNG plant, where the gas will be cooled down and shipped from Melkøya in a liquid state
Umbilicals built in Norway
Nexans will provide static subsea umbilicals with a complex cross-section comprising 3 kilovolt (kV) power, fiber-optic communications and hydraulic elements for chemical injection, together with a range of connection and termination accessories.
The electrical and fiber optic elements will be manufactured at the Nexans Norway facility in Rognan, North Norway. Apart from Nexans’ 250 workers in Rognan, the contract will also involve over 50 local subcontractors and vendors. The complete umbilical system will be developed, manufactured and tested at Nexans Norway facility in Halden, Norway.
Vincent Dessale, Nexans Senior Executive Vice President Subsea and Land Systems Business Group, said: “Equinor’s Snøhvit development is a perfect example of how advanced technology can enable the effective operation of subsea gas fields with no need for surface installations. We are therefore delighted to further extend our involvement in this ground-breaking project by winning this major contract to provide the complex umbilicals required for the new Askeladd development”.
The delivery of the Nexans umbilicals for the Askeladd development is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.