Hod B platform safely installed

The Fixed facilities alliance, between Aker BP, Aker Solutions and ABB, has delivered yet another platform on time, with a high level of quality and with no harm to people or the environment. The topside was installed just one year and two months after the first steel cut.

The 2000-tonne topsides were placed on the jacket on the Hod field in the southern part of the North Sea on Sunday.

“The platform is delivered from a Norwegian yard and with Norwegian subcontractors. It is delivered according to plan, in just 14 months, in the middle of a pandemic. This is an enormous achievement. Congratulations to everyone who has contributed,” says Aker BP CEO Karl Johnny Hersvik.

Hod B sailed from Verdal on 4 August. 50 apprentices at Aker Solutions have completed large parts of their apprenticeships on the Hod B project at the yard in Verdal. Here we have the chief executives of Aker Solutions and Aker BP, Kjetel Digre (left) and Karl Johnny Hersvik (right), along with four of the apprentices, Elias Gebre Teklemariam, Dorte Emelie Jørstad, Eirik Thorhus and Tobias Green Granum.

Effect of the temporary tax changes

The first steel for Hod B was cut in Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal, just hours after the Norwegian Parliament adopted temporary changes in the petroleum tax in June of last year. The tax changes were introduced to stimulate increased investments, and thus secure Norwegian jobs in an extremely demanding period for the oil and gas industry.

More than a hundred suppliers across Norway have contributed to the Hod development. At peak, around 550 people from Aker Solutions, the alliance and subcontractors have been working on the Hod B project at the yard in Verdal. More than 50 apprentices have completed large parts of their vocational training on the project.

“Through projects like Hod, we are creating value both for the company, partners, alliance partners, owners and the Norwegian society at large. We are also helping to sustain a world-leading supplier industry. I am especially proud of the fact that, through the Hod project, Aker BP has contributed to the vocational training of 50 apprentices. These apprentices, and the industry in general, have expertise that will be essential in the years to come. Several of the apprentices are already headed for renewable projects in Aker Solutions, such as the delivery of suction anchors and seabed installations for Hywind Tampen. This is the green energy transition in practice,” Hersvik says.

Improvements through alliances

The first normally unmanned platform delivered by the fixed platform alliance was Valhall Flank West. Hod B is a copy. 

“Through Hod B the alliance is delivering a product with very high quality, and we are incredibly proud of what they have achieved. We have learned important lessons in the Valhall Flank West project, have improved, and now see that we are able to work even faster and more efficiently with our alliance partners on Hod B. This shows that the alliance model works, and that is also why this model is an important part of Aker BP’s strategy,” says project manager Rannveig Storebø.

A total of five alliances are contributing to the Hod project. These alliances are integrated from start to finish in the project and by doing this, Aker BP has taken the alliance model to a new level. 

Important for the future of Valhall

Hod B will be remotely operated from Valhall, and the field will have extremely low CO2 emissions thanks to power from shore. Aker BP and partner Pandion expects Hod to produce 40 million barrels of oil equivalent.

“We look forward to bringing Hod on stream in the first quarter of next year. Aker BP will continue to increase value creation from the giant Valhall through new projects and a major ongoing modernisation of the area. Hod is an important contribution towards achieving the Valhall ambition of a total of two billion produced barrels from the area,” says Valhall Asset Manager Ole Johan Molvig.

Several subsea campaigns will be conducted in the Hod project leading up to production start in 2022, such as installation and connection of the gas lift pipelines, production flowlines and umbilicals. Modification work is under way at the Valhall field centre, and the Maersk Invincible drilling rig will be arriving this autumn to drill production wells.

Overall, Aker BP plans to invest around 135 billion kroner in field development projects on the Norwegian shelf up to 2028. That will add more than 500 million barrels to Aker BP’s resource base – while at the same time providing a high level of activity, a large number of jobs for several suppliers across large parts of the country – and significant revenues for both owners and the greater society.