Gullfaks is an oil and gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea operated by Equinor. It was discovered in 1978, in block 34/10, at a water depth of 130-230 meters.[1] The initial recoverable reserve is 2.1 Goilbbl, and the remaining recoverable reserve in 2004 is 234 Moilbbl. This oil field reached peak production in 2001 at 180000 oilbbl/d. It has satellite fields Gullfaks South, Rimfaks, Skinfaks and Gullveig.
In November 2022, the Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm started supplying power to the Gullfaks platforms.[2]
Platforms
The project consists of three production platforms Gullfaks A (1986), Gullfaks B (1988), and Gullfaks C (1989).[1] Gullfaks C sits 217 m below the waterline and the height of the total structure measured from the sea floor is 380 m,[3] making it taller than the Eiffel Tower. Gullfaks C holds the record [4] of the heaviest object that has ever been moved to another position, relative to the surface of the Earth with a total displacement between 1.4 and 1.5 million tons.[5] The platform produces 250000 oilbbl/d of oil. The Tordis field, which is located 11 km southeast of Gullfaks C, has a subsea separation manifold installed in 2007 which is tied-back to the existing Gullfaks infrastructure.[6][7]
Incidents
Between November 2009 and May 2010 a well being drilled from Gullfaks C experienced multiple well control incidents which were investigated by Petroleum Safety Authority Norway and summarized in a report released on 19 November 2010. The report stated that only chance prevented the final and most serious incident on 19 May 2010 from becoming a full-scale disaster. The report also questioned why the Statoil’s probe that was supposed to assess which barriers functioned "and thereby helped to prevent or limit the hazard" did not seem to have been assessed.[9]
On 29, April 2016, a helicopter carrying oil workers crashed while flying from the Gullfaks oil field to Bergen. All 13 people on board were killed.[10]
Geology
The reservoir consists of delta sandstones from the Middle Jurassic Brent Group, shallow-marine Lower Jurassic Cook Formation sandstones, and the fluvial-channel and delta-plain Lower Jurassic Statfjord Formation.[1]
See also
- 2016 Turøy helicopter crash
- List of tallest oil platforms
External links
References
- Petterson, O., Storli, A., Ljosland, E., Nygaard, O., Massie, I., and Carlsen, H., The Gullfaks Field, 1992, in Giant Oil and Gas Fields of the Decade, 1978-1988, AAPG Memoir 54, Halbouty, M.T., editor, Tulsa: American Association of Petroleum Geologists, ISBN 0891813330, pp. 429-446^
- Hywind Tampen starts powering Snorre reNEWS - Renewable Energy News, 2023-05-16, retrieved 2024-12-21^
- Structures^
- Heaviest man-made object moved^
- Björn Lindberg. How large is a troll? INDUSTRIMINNE.NO, 11 August 2022^
- Amazing Structures, author Michael Pollard Page 34,35^
- Statoil retrieved 2013-11-27^
- Oilfield Publications Limited. The North Sea Platform Guide Oilfield Publications Limited, 1985^
- summary letter in English retrieved 2011-11-14^
- Super Puma crash: Helicopter 'showed warning light' BBC News, 2016-05-01, retrieved 2024-08-11^