Production from the new
combined process and
hotel platform started
January 26th 2013. With the
new platform in operation
Valhall may produce until
2050.
The activity at Valhall is still very high and a flotel rig has been used at the field until late February 2013 to accommodate extra personnel working with completion of the Valhall Re-development project and preparing for start -up of the new platform. .. Valhall is under continuos development and several additional projects are also under consideration.
Valhall is an oil field located in 70 metres of water. The field was originally developed with three facilities, but has now 8 platforms.
The Valhall complex consists today of six separate steel platforms for quarters, drilling, wellheads, production, water injection, combined process- and hotel platform respectively. These platforms are bridge-connected. In addition the field has two unmanned flank platforms, one in the south and one in the north, both around 6 kilometers from the field center.
Valhall is also the owner of the 2/4 G-platform installed in 1982, located at Ekofisk and operated by Conoco Phillips. The platform was taken out of service as part of Ekofisk II in 1998.
Built in 1979 and put to use in July 1981. It has accommodations for 208 people but due to subsidence and air gap requirements between cellar deck and sea level only 104 people are allowed to be accommodated during the winter season ( 1/9-2012-30/4-2013
Situated between QP and PCP. It has 30 well slots, waste injection and a drilling rig. The platform started its activity on 17 December 1981, at that time with the first covered derrick. The derrick and drilling foundation were removed during summer 2009 and a separate program for plug and abandonment is under development.
The final shut in of the platform took place late July 2012 and the production now takes place on the new process and hotel platform The original PCP platform was built to process 168,000 barrels of oil and 350 million cubic feet of gas per day. The platform is 65 meters high and weighs 21,000 tons. The oil production is piped to 2/4-J at the Ekofisk Center and goes to Teesside in England. The gas is transported directly via Norpipe pipeline to Emden in Germany. The platform also processes oil and gas that comes from Hod.
Installed in April 1996 and first oil production started in June the same year. WP has 19 well slots. Total cost, including drilling of the wells, is approx. 1,5 billion NOK.
is a fixed steel platform, bridge linked to the existing Valhall wellhead platform. Integrated topsides with water injection facilities, seawater treatment facilities.. Platform-based drilling rig, which can skid on beams from IP to WP. The platform configuration allows for drilling and maintenance of wells on the new platform (24 wells total) and on the existing WP platform (19 wells total). State-of-the-art automated drilling rig which through a fiber optic line is linked into an Onshore Operations Center in Stavanger, providing the same data as they have offshore and ability to involve more brains to solve issue and enhancing safety and requiring fewer POB offshore.
These are two identical unmanned wellhead platforms each equipped with 16 drilling slots and located about 6 km (one to the North and one to the South) from the existing Valhall Facilities where well streams will be processed. During the autumn 2008 the Valhall Flank gaslift project was launched. This will help increase the oil production from the flank platforms. The modules were fabricated by Aker Solutions in Egersund. and started operation in 2011.
The new Process/Hotel Platform (PH) is mounted on a 108m high fixed steel jacket and connected to the other installations via an external system of bridges and walkways. It contains all essential utilities/process piping, linking PH to the existing complex . The platform has new pipeline (subsea) crossovers to and from the new PH platform. It is powered from shore via a 78mw power cable from Lista. The platform has an integrated operating environment linking onshore and offshore personnel.
Some other key facts about the new combined production and hotel platform:
New facility design life: 40 years
Accommodation: 180 single bed cabins
Oil production capacity: 120,000 bpd
Gas handling capacity: 143 mmscf/d
Topsides (dry) weight: 18,500 tonnes
Jacket substructure: 8,400 tonnes
Power from shore: 294 km direct-current cable from southern Norway