Norway's Largest Platform Hotel Completed
Tuesday 2 October 2018
The construction of the housing and equipment platform for the Johan Sverdrup field was completed on 1 October 2018. After this important milestone, only the preparation and testing of systems remains before Norway's largest platform hotel until spring 2019 will be shipped at sea and installed on the field.
In June 2015, Kværner, in partnership with KBR's project company, won the contract for the total delivery of the deck to the equipment and housing platform of the Johan Sverdrup field. The ULQ platform is one of four platforms in phase 1 of the development of the oil and gas field Johan Sverdrup on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. With its 450 cabins and 560 beds, it will be Norway's largest platform hotel. The platform also includes the advanced control room and systems that make up the nerve center for all installations in the field.
The contract of more than NOK 6.7 billion has during the busiest period involved nearly 2,000 people involved in the project.
Mechanical completion of the platform is one of the most important milestones in the project, which means that the construction work has been completed and that the platform is ready for the testing phase, which is the final stage before it is shipped to the sea. During that phase, Kværner will assist Equinor. Kværner is also awarded an option for offshore launching of the platform after it is delivered to field next year.
The contract from 2015 was entered into in the midst of the oil crisis, during a period that was demanding for the supplier industry, with a high focus on costs and improvements. For a long time, Kværner has worked hard to improve the delivery model and competitiveness, and has used the Johan Sverdrup project actively to implement various improvement measures.
Not least, the project has taken advantage of the big-scale "Storen" cranes on the yard at Stord, which has allowed larger sections, more work on the ground and far fewer skating rinks.
The project has been conducted with a high degree of Norwegian content. In addition to Kværner, Leirvik AS has had the task of building the housing module, which is the company's biggest assignment ever.