Two subsea templates originally intended for Statoil's Connemara field off Ireland are to be used instead in a Norwegian North Sea project.
"These units are due to be configured for use on the Gullfaks South satellite," reports Christian Holst, head of subsea production systems for phase II of the Gullfaks satellites development.
"They'll be like new when they're installed this summer in line with current plans."
A development of Connemara in the Atlantic was abandoned by Statoil because production properties in the main reservoir were inadequate. One of the templates had then been installed on the field for use in long-term testing.
Before the templates are redeployed off Norway, they will be adapted for their new role by Grenland Offshore in Langesund south of Oslo.
"Reusing these units will cut costs compared with building new structures," observes Mr Holst. "There's also an environmental benefit."
Each template has four well slots. One will primarily produce gas, while the other is intended for oil production. Wellstreams will be piped to Statoil's nearby Gullfaks C platform through flowlines assembled into a bundle.
This project will also mark the first use of the high integrity pressure protection system (Hipps) on subsea installations. This type of valve can shut down a wellstream in less than two seconds if it registers excessive pressure.
Because Hipps protects a flowline bundle against high shut-in pressure in an oil well, the bundle can have the same design pressure used in phase I of the Gullfaks satellites development. That will in turn represent a substantial saving.