The Gjøa Semi: a North Sea project relevant for Western Australia
Kristian Aas A and Lars Bjørheim AA Aker Solutions Oil & Gas Australia
B Statoil
The APPEA Journal 51(1) 589-602 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ10042
Published: 2011
Abstract
Gjøa was the largest field development project in Norway in 2010. Gjøa was proven in 1989 and are now being developed together with nearby Vega satellites. The combined reserves are estiThe recent Gjøa field development in the North Sea has many features that are relevant for the oil and gas developments north of Western Australia. While the field location is not very similar to the north of Western Australia, the field development solution is very relevant. Several subsea clusters are tied back to a semi-submersible platform with export of gas and condensate via pipelines to shore.
Other aspects to the project that are relevant to Western Australia are split location engineering between Norway and India, fabrication of the hull in Korea and subsequent heavy lift transport to the assembly yard, pre-installation of the mooring system, and tow to field with ocean going tug boats.
The semi concept, which was used for the Gjøa development, is a mature technology with few technical challenges on a conceptual level. On the other hand the building of an oil and gas platform for A$2 billion has many challenges, both economical and technical, that have to be solved to have a successful project for both the client and the contractor.
Kristian Aas has 20 years experience in design, fabrication and installation of semi submersibles. He is presently working as Front End Team Leader for Aker Solutions Oil and Gas Australia. For the past 10 years he was the marine discipline lead for the Kristin and Gjøa development projects for Aker Solutions. His responsibility has been to document the platforms with respect to hydrodynamics, hydrostatics and mooring system design. In the later phases of the projects he has been involved in the marine operations and was also the ballast manager during mating and tow-out operations. Kristian graduated from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland with a Bachelor of Engineering. kristian.aas@akersolutions.com |
Lars G. Bjørheim has more than 20 years experience in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. He is presently working as Leading Engineer Platform Structural Analysis in the Valemon project for Statoil in Norway. Before that Lars was structural and marine lead for Statoil in the Gjøa project. His responsibility was to follow up the structural and marine design of the Gjøa semi on behalf of the client. Lars holds a PhD in marine technology from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. larsgb@statoil.com |
