Photos: 28,100-ton Johan Sverdrup Processing Platform Departs South Korea Aboard World’s Largest Heavy Lift Vessel

“The Johan Sverdrup project has been on a formidable improvement journey the last few years, mostly thanks to high quality in the execution phase. This has also been a defining characteristic of the delivery of the processing topside currently en route from South Korea to Norway,” says Trond Bokn, senior vice president for the Johan Sverdrup development.

Aker Solutions has been responsible for engineering and procurement management for the two topsides, while Samsung Heavy Industries has been responsible for construction of the riser platform and now the processing platform for the Johan Sverdrup field.

The topside is now sailing for the Kværner yard in Stord, Norway where two pedestal cranes will be mounted, and further preparations will be made, before it is to be lifted into position at the Johan Sverdrup field in one single lift by the Pioneering Spirit vessel in the spring of 2019. 

The processing topside, measuring 139 meters long, 69 meters wide, and 72 meters tall, will be the third topside to be installed at the Johan Sverdrup field, and the second to be lifted in place with the specialized heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit. In total,  the first phase of Johan Sverdrup development will be made up of four platforms: the riser platform (RP) and the drilling platform (DP), installed in 2018, and the Utility and Living Quarter (ULQ) which together with the processing platform will be installed during spring 2019.

The processing platform has capacity for 440,000 barrels of oil per day. In the second phase of Johan Sverdrup the field centre will be extended with another processing platform (P2) with capacity for an additional 220,000 barrels of oil per day.

Production at the Johan Sverdrup field is expected to start in November 2019 for the first phase, and Q4 2022 for the second phase.