Ekofisk 2/4 Z is a wellhead platform with 36 well slots. 35 production wells and one well for reinjection of drill cuttings will be drilled. According to the plan, five of the wells will be pre-drilled in 2012/13.
The superstructure should be ready for transport to the field in March 2013, and the plan is to start up the platform and hand it over to the operating organisation in the second half of 2013.
The Ekofisk South project received its final approval from the Norwegian authorities on 9 June. Construction of the jacket began two weeks later in Cadiz, Spain, and the work on the bridge has now started in Egersund. Later this autumn the construction of the topsides will begin.
The bridge will be 116 metres long and will be ready for transport to Ekofisk by the end of April next year, at the same time as the jacket from Cadiz and the bridge support. The latter will be delivered from Verdal as part of the task of building the steel jacket for the new accommodation an field centre platform Ekofisk 2/4 L.
The work on the Ekofisk 2/4 Z topsides is planned to commence in early November, with construction work taking place in Poland and in Egersund. Poland will be first out of the blocks with fabrication of the deck sections. Assembling and equipping of the topsides will be handled in Egersund, starting in April next year.
The new platform has a lot in common with 2/4 M, which was completed at the same yard in Egersund in 2005. The construction process is also quite similar, but more of the prefabrication is done in Poland this time.