Norway has officially opened the Aasta Hansteen offshore gas field, developed via the world’s largest and the country’s first spar platform.
The Aasta Hansteen field, named after a Norwegian painter, writer, and early feminist, sits in the northern sector of the Norwegian Sea, 120 kilometers northwest of Norne and around 300 kilometers off the Nordland county coast.
The Aasta Hansteen platform is Norway’s first spar platform in production. Spar is a cylindrical, partially submerged offshore drilling and production platform that is particularly well adapted to deepwater. Water depth at the Aasta Hansteen area is 1270 meters.
The cylindrical substructure is floating 160 meters below the surface and is anchored with fiber rope and chain fastened to anchors on the seabed in the Norwegian Sea.
Commenting at the official opening ceremony, State Secretary Rikard Gaarder Knutsen said: “I am happy to participate in the opening of the [Aasta] Hansteen field! The field is, like the women’s campaigner and painter Aasta Hansteen, a real pioneer. This is the first time we have been expanding into such deep water in Norway, it is the first Spar platform on the Norwegian shelf and it is the world’s largest of its kind.”
The gas from Aasta Hansteen is transported by the Polarled pipeline to the Nyhamna terminal in Møre og Romsdal county.
The ceremony on Wednesday, held in Sandnessjøen, marks the formal opening of the field, however, the Aasta Hansteen gas field first started producing back in December 2018 . The production was shut at one point in April due to a gas leak . While it remains unclear when the gas production was restarted exactly, some reports suggest the resumption date was April 17.
Offshore Energy Today Staff
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