Header image : © Eni Norge
ABB is supplying a range of services and equipment for an oil production facility in the Arctic Circle. The Goliat is a floating production, storage and off-loading platform that is being fabricated in Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries for the Eni Norge energy company.
When it is completed in early 2015, it will be taken to the Barents Sea, 85 km off the coast of northern Norway, where it will process oil from the first field to be developed in those waters.
The services being supplied include Goliat’s electrical equipment, its instrumentation, valves, control systems and telecoms. Power will be delivered by means of a high voltage AC cable from the Norwegian town of Hammerfest, bundled with a fiber optic line.
ABB is manufacturing and installing all the platform’s transformers, drives and motors, from the 11 kW switchgear to the 230 V AC distribution boards. It will also deliver all the field instruments and fire and gas equipment. For other equipment, ABB has teamed up with specialist supplier Solberg & Andersen to provide all the Goliat’s control and safety valves – pneumatic, hydraulic and electrical – together with a “ValveWatch” system for monitoring them.
The control systems for the platform and the onshore substation will be based on ABB’s 800xA industrial automation system. Three “extended operator workplaces” will be delivered to act as operation centres, together with a training simulator that allows staff to practice their responses to various situations.
The telecoms side of the package will allow technicians to manage and monitor the Goliat on the platform itself, and also from onshore operation centre. As well as the usual data links, the platform will be able to connect with vessels within a range of about 10 km.
Finally, ABB will supply a range of consultation services to optimize production efficiency and decrease energy consumption. This takes in IT, security and network infrastructure, information management, condition monitoring, operational performance monitoring and flow assurance solutions.