Phase II – Norwegian share of Frigg on stream
DP2 was a drilling and production platform on the Norwegian side of Frigg. Supported on a steel jacket, it was fabricated in France, shipped by barge to the field and installed during May 1976 in 98 metres of water. Drilling began in November 1977, with the first seven wells opened for production in August 1978 so that gas could flow to TCP2 for processing.
TCP2’s primary function was to process gas produced from DP2 on the Norwegian side of Frigg. Condensate (light oil) and water were separated out and the gas dewatered. The pressure and volume of the gas were also checked before it was transported through the Frigg Norwegian Pipeline to St Fergus. Eventually, the platform also received wellstreams from the North-East Frigg, Odin, East Frigg, Lille-Frigg and Frøy satellites. The last of these also included oil. TCP2 was supported by a Condeep concrete gravity base structure (GBS) built at Åndalsnes in Norway. Together with Statfjord A, this platform was the first Condeep on the NCS. It was installed in June 1977 and came on stream in August 1978.
The Frigg Norwegian Pipeline (FNP) from TCP2 to the St Fergus terminal in Scotland was completed in 1977, after pipelaying had been under way since 1974. It was laid in parallel with the UK pipeline, which ran from TP1 to St Fergus. This facility was officially inaugurated in August 1978 in connection with the start to production from the Norwegian side. Combined with the field installations, having two pipelines provided a duplicated production and transport system. Both lines were about 360 kilometres long. The Frigg transport system had the capacity to carry 12 billion cubic metres of dry gas per annum, corresponding in energy terms to 130 terawatt-hours. Total Oil Marine UK was the operator for both gas pipelines. Since 2001, FNP has been part of the Vesterled transport system operated by Gassco on behalf of Gassled with Total E&P UK as technical service provider.
Completion of phase II meant that the whole Frigg field was in production.
Fourth licensing roundThe second oil crisis