Chevron has reached a major project milestone, as the sail-away and installation of the Alder Project’s topsides module in the Central North Sea, has been completed.

The 800-metric-ton topsides structure was built in a Newcastle shipyard and travelled via transport barge 110 miles (175 km) to the Firth of Forth. The module was transferred to the Oleg Strashnov Heavy Lift Vessel, which set sail for the Central North Sea, Chevron explains.

After arriving on location on June 29, the module was installed onto the Britannia Bridge Linked Platform (BLP), where Alder produced fluids will be processed following the offshore hook up and commissioning campaign.

“This is a significant achievement and milestone for the Alder team. It is the culmination of years of planning and collaborative execution by Chevron, our co-venturer and our various contractors. Progress on Alder is an important driver of Chevron’s future growth plans in the U.K.,” said Craig May, managing director, Chevron Upstream Europe.

“There’s a lot of work in this type of operation and I would like to thank everybody involved for ensuring the safe and incident free installation of the Alder module. It took collaboration and focus to gets it done safely, the right way, the first time – a great accomplishment,” added Robert Visser, Alder project manager.

The Alder Field

Alder is a high pressure high temperature gas condensate field located in Block 15/29a, in a water depth of 150 meters, approximately 160 kilometres from the Scottish coastline, and 60 kilometres from the U.K./Norway median line.

The Alder Field will be developed via a single subsea well tied back to the existing Britannia Platform via a 28 kilometre pipeline. For drilling the Alder well, Chevron has contracted Blackford Dolphin from mid-2015 for a multi-well programme.

According to Chevron, some 75 percent of the development work for Alder is being executed in the U.K. Over the next 6 months, work will continue at a number of U.K. locations, including Aberdeen, Invergordon, Leeds and Newcastle, on the key elements that will ultimately be brought together in the field to bring Alder’s hydrocarbons to production, some 40 years after its discovery.

The project has a planned design capacity of 110 million cubic feet of natural gas and 14,000 barrels of condensate per day. First production is expected in 2016 and gas will be exported to the Scottish Area Gas Evacuation (SAGE) terminal at St Fergus. Chevron North Sea Limited operates the project and has a 73.684 percent interest, with co-venturer ConocoPhillips Limited with 26.316 percent.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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