Statoil has installed the first subsea wet gas compressor at the Gullfaks C oil and gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
Gullfaks subsea compressor project (GSC) completed structure as well as module installation campaigns for the subsea station in May and June.
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In addition to adding 22 million barrels of oil equivalent, subsea wet gas compression at the platform will extend plateau production by another two years.
Gullfaks subsea compressor project manager Bjørn Birkeland said: "The installation campaigns have been successfully performed by Subsea Seven."
The project is in the final phase and currently undergoing testing and preparing for handover, as well as start-up that is expected to take place in the last quarter of 2015.
Apply Sørco has carried out preparations for the start-up of the subsea compressor on Gullfaks C and the process is now in the final stages.
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By GlobalDataClaimed to be a flexible measure to improve oil recovery (IOR) for the Gullfaks licence, the compressor will be hooked up between the L and M subsea templates and platform.
With the help of existing pipelines, other subsea wells can also be tied to the compressor.
Gullfaks subsea compressor project owner representative Steinar Konradsen said: "This is the first compressor of its kind in the world.
"Subsea wet gas compression is a game-changer for subsea processing, and an important technology to increase recovery also on other fields."
Heavy-lift vessel Oleg Strashnov installed the protective structure and compressor station in early May and the compressor and cooling modules were lowered into place on 26 June from the Seven Viking.
The wet gas Gullfaks technology does not require any treatment of the well stream before compression.
Image: Gullfaks Subsea Compression project manager Bjørn Birkeland. Photo: courtesy of © Statoil.
