The Culzean Field Development has reached a major milestone this week as all topsides facility items were successfully installed ahead of schedule by the world’s largest operating heavy lift vessel, SSCV Thialf.

“Close to 30,000mT of topsides facilities were installed by Heerema Marine Contractors ahead of schedule,” said Culzean Project Director, Claus Vissing-Jørgensen. “This is a fantastic achievement and it marks a very important milestone for Total E&P UK towards first gas from Culzean.”

Work on the topsides facilities began in 2015 and took around 33 months to complete, including design and fabrication. The facilities were built by Sembcorp Marine Offshore Platforms in their Singapore and UK yards on behalf of Total E&P UK, the field operator and joint venture owners BP and JX Nippon, and comprises a Well-head Platform (WHP), Central Processing Facility (CPF), Utilities and Living Quarters (ULQ), flare stack, gas compression module, power generation module and bridge links.

“We still have a couple of days of ancillary completion works prior to the arrival of the Flotel Victory later this month which will mark the commencement of the offshore hook-up (HUC) activities.”

Approximately 650 people will be working in the field during HUC activities and as the project moves into the final phase towards first gas.

“That is a lot of people; and continuation of the excellent project safety performance to date is at the top of our agenda while we strive towards the ultimate milestone for the project,” Mr Vissing-Jørgensen concludes.

First gas from the Culzean Field is expected in summer 2019 and the field is projected to deliver up to 5% of the total UK gas consumption when production is at plateau in 2020.

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