Equinor Chooses Nexans Umbilical Technology for its Askeladd Development in the Barents Sea
Friday 29 June 2018
Nexans has been awarded a major contract to provide complex umbilicals with power, fiber-optic and hydraulic elements for the next stage of the multi-phased Snøhvit development.
The Snøhvit gas field in the Barents Sea is the largest ever industrial project in North Norway. It is now entering part two of its multi-phase development plan with Equinor and its partners investing over half a billion euros in the Askeladd development which will provide feedstock for the onshore LNG (liquified natural gas) plant at Melkøya in Hammerfest. To support the development, Equinor has awarded a major contract to Nexans to design, manufacture and supply a total of 42 kilometers of static infield and interfield umbilicals to control the subsea production systems.
The Askeladd development, at a water depth of about 250 meters, will supply 21 billion cubic metres of gas and two million cubic metres of condensate to the Hammerfest LNG plant, with production scheduled to come on stream towards the end of 2020. It will tie-in to the existing Snøhvit field infrastructure which features Nexans’ umbilicals installed in previous projects - including a 145 kilometer umbilical that is still the longest umbilical in the world.
For the Askeladd development, 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 with its 250 skilled and experienced employees. The contract would 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.
The delivery of the Nexans umbilicals for the Askeladd development is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.