Neptune installs world's longest ETH production pipe
North Sea-focused Neptune Energy on August 3 announced it had finished installing what is the world's longest electrically trace-heated (ETH) subsea production pipeline at the Fenja oil and gas field it operates in the Norwegian Sea.
The 38-km pipeline will carry oil from the field to the Equinor-operated Njord A platform, Neptune said, noting that the use of ETH technology significantly reduced the project's development cost by allowing the field to be tied back to existing infrastructure. Fenja's oil is waxy and therefore must be warmed to a temperature above 28 °C before resuming flow after a shutdown or interruption. During normal production, the temperature in the pipeline would be kept well above this level.
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The pipeline was developed with the help with TechnipFMC, which installed it during two subsea campaigns in 2020 and 2021.
Fenja is on track to start production in the fourth quarter of 2021. It mostly contains oil, which will be processed at Njord A and then transferred to tankers for shipment. But it will also flow gas, which will be both re-injected to maintain reservoir pressure and exported via the Asgard Transport System.
Neptune operates Fenja with a 30% interest, while Var Energi has a 45% stake, Suncor Energy 17.5% and DNO 7.5%.