plugs to be able to start gas production as planned from the new Vega
oil-gas wells in the northern part of the North Sea.
The multi-billion kroner production
system is completely dependent on these plugs to function correctly,
and for their part, Statoil and FMC were just as dependent on help
from Sperre AS to get the plugs installed.
A mini-ROV from Tor Olav Sperre's
company was sent into the depths, and with the aid of a
remote-controlled wrench the ROV soon had the three essential plugs
in place. As far as FMC and Statoil were concerned, this was far
cheaper than other potential installation methods. Each of the three
modules sitting on the seabed weighs 160 tonnes, and the alternative
to the “Sperre method” would have been to raise them and screw
the plugs in on board a specialist vessel, a much more expensive
solution than using Sperre's mini-ROV.
Helge Hagen, Statoil's Vega project
manager, is impressed by what Sperre AS is capable of doing with its
efficient and quite unique technology: “I don't think such
small ROVs have ever been used at such great depths before. Sperre AS
has really advanced technology in this area,” says Hagen, who
himself is from Notodden, to local newspaper “Telen”. “The
entire offshore sector has a great deal of respect for the expertise
that has been built up by this little Notodden company, which after
all is based quite a long way from the North Sea.”