Fossil Energy – Hod B
Aker BP and its partner Pandion Energy have begun production from the Hod B platform in the southern North Sea off Norway.
The first steel for Hod B was cut in Aker Solutions’ yard in Verdal, the day after the Norwegian Parliament adopted temporary changes in the petroleum tax regime in June 2020.
In line with the rapid sanctioning of Hod B, the project has been delivered 14 months after first steel.
Aker Solutions won a deal for the topside and steel substructure for the platform in June 2020. The jacket was installed in July 2021 while the topside was installed the following month.
In the period leading up to production start-up, Subsea7 has conducted several subsea campaigns in the Hod project, such as the installation and connection of the gas lift pipelines, production flowlines, and umbilicals.
The Maersk Invincible jack-up rig has drilled six production wells, and modification work has been carried out at the Valhall field center.
Aker BP said that a total of five alliances have contributed to the Hod project. The alliances have been integrated from start to finish in the project and by doing this, Aker BP has taken the alliance model to a new level.
“Production start-up from Hod B less than two years after is great news! It demonstrates how the temporary tax changes, which matured in the spring of 2020 when the industry was paralyzed by a pandemic and a sharp fall in oil prices, have had a real impact. Aker BP and Pandion Energy responded immediately to the politicians’ expectation of creating activity for the supplier industry across the country,” says Karl Johnny Hersvik, CEO of Aker BP.
Hod B is a normally unmanned wellhead platform, remotely operated from the Valhall field center. Production from the Hod field will have close to zero CO2 emissions thanks to power from shore. Aker BP and partner Pandion Energy expect Hod to produce 40 million barrels of oil.
