July 28 - The Statoil topsides for the Valemon field in the North Sea have been lifted into place on a steel jacket by the crane vessel Saipem 7000.
Produced by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, the 9,750-tonne topsides were shipped to Norway, where they stopped over in Åmøyfjorden, Stavanger before being transported to the field.
Statoil explained that the lifting operation took over two years of planning, and included very thorough safety evaluations.
During the lift, the distance between the topsides and the rig was just 5 m.
If all goes according to plan, Statoil expects that three wells will be producing when the field comes on stream at the end of the year. However, drilling on the field is planned to continue until 2017.
