Snøhvit

Longest in the world

 

 

Project description:

• Snøhvit is the largest ever industrial project in North Norway, so the development was of great importance for industry in the region.
• The Snøhvit Field is situated in the Barents Sea and is the fifth largest gas field on the Norwegian shelf. In this field, all the equipment in the production installation is situated on the seafloor.
• In 2005, Nexans supplied five umbilicals with power cables, fibre-optic cables and hydraulic pipes for control and injection of chemicals.

Challenges of the project:

• Snøhvit is the first seafloor development where all functions in the field will be controlled remotely from an onshore facility.
• The length resulted in challenges for both the electrical and the hydraulic systems, which imposed exacting requirements as regards component understanding.
• The 145-km umbilical between the onshore facility at Melkøya and the Snøhvit Field is still the longest umbilical in the world. 

Nexans' solution:  Development and production of 145,000 metres of main umbilical in a single length and  approx. 30,000 metres of infield umbilicals in four lengths. Upon delivery the Snøhvit umbilical system had a total weight of approx. 2,500 tonnes.    - The main umbilical weighed about 1,750 tonnes, i.e. 13       kilograms per metre.    - The infield umbilicals weighed about 750 tonnes, i.e. 23,5       kilograms per metre. The four infield umbilicals which run from the main hub (Central Distribution Unit) in the field out to each template had a main length of 145 kilometres, and a 30 kilometres infield umbilical.