Mishaps during development

by the Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Developing the Greater Ekofisk Area progressed largely as planned, but some things were bound to go wrong with a project on this scale. Several incidents disrupted positioning of Ekofisk 2/4 P.

— The accident happened when the third bridge, between 2/4 P and the Ekofisk tank, was to be lifted into place -the crane snapped. Photo: Infofilm/Norwegian Petroleum Museum

The broken crane vessel "DB 22" after the bridge between 2/4 P and Ekofisk 2/4 T fell down. Ekofisk, Gulftide and 2/4 A in the background. Photo: Infofilm/Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Towout of the jacket (support structure) was delayed until March by bad weather. It then transpired that one of the buoyancy tanks intended to keep it afloat and to help with positioning had sprung a leak. When the jacket was launched from the barge, it immediately sank to the seabed. Fortunately, the damage was minimal and the DB 52 crane ship was able to recover and position it correctly.

Piling and lifting of the topside modules on 2/4 P progressed as intended, until the only job left was the bridge to the Ekofisk tank. Everything was ready, and lifting began.

The bridge suddenly fell because the DB 22 crane had broken. While damage to the bridge was not very serious and could be repaired, the crane ship was out of service for the rest of 1974.

It was 23 July before the bridge could finally be lifted into place and the tank was connected to the rest of the Ekofisk Complex.

First oil production from a fixed Norwegian platform Royal visit to Ekofisk

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Published 27. May 2019 • Updated 7. October 2019