Eni Norway has been given the go-ahead by Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) to start production from the Goliat (SEN, 32/20) FPSO unit in the Barents Sea. The PSA said consent has been granted in part on the basis of a letter sent to it by Eni on Jan. 8, which details work that needs to be completed before the FPSO unit comes into service and after production has begun. This implies that there is still no firm date set for startup of the field. Goliat is being developed with a Sevan 1000 circular FPSO unit with eight subsea templates with 32 well slots. The templates are connected to the FPSO unit with an integrated storage and loading system. Goliat lies about 50 km southeast of the Snøhvit Field. Water depth in the area is 360 m to 420 m.

From Houston (BN): In the Gulf of Mexico, Anadarko announced first oil from its Heidelberg (32/20) spar in Green Canyon Block 860. The floating production system serves wells in GC 859 and 903. Anadarko touted startup ahead of schedule. The July 2014 initial development operations coordination document filed with regulators forecast first oil for Feb. 1 and flow started on Jan. 14.

There’s progress to report at Shell’s Stones (32/20) project. According to marine vessel tracking services, the Turritella FPSO unit has arrived from the Far East and parked near its planned operating location in 2,912 m in Walker Ridge Block 551 about 391 km south of New Orleans. Shell has said it expects startup of production later this year.

Wood Group has landed a three-year contract for work on Shell’s Prelude (32/19) floating LNG (FLNG) project. Wood Group Kenny will provide specialist consultancy services for flexible riser integrity management prior to and during operation of Prelude FLNG, which will be located 475 km north-northeast of Broome in Western Australia. The focus of the contract will be the development and implementation of the flexible riser integrity management plan as well as inspection, monitoring, testing and on-call engineering support. Wood Group Kenny designed Prelude’s subsea flowlines. Bob MacDonald, CEO of Wood Group Kenny, said, “The flexible risers are a safety critical component of the subsea system. We look forward to applying our specialist expertise to the project, which has specific challenges given the cyclonic conditions; making integrity even more pertinent.” Work will be carried out from the company’s Perth office.

Industry focus on offshore Guyana is intensifying. The government has said it expects Exxon Mobil to accelerate development of the Liza (32/15) discovery offshore and start production before 2020. The plan is to develop the field with an FPSO vessel. Stena announced Exxon Mobil has hired the Stena Carron deepwater drillship for its 2016 campaign at a rate of $235,000 a day for one year with provision for a six-month extension. Repsol, which drilled the Jaguar-1 well in 2012 and found evidence of hydrocarbons, reportedly has sought a permit extension to allow it to drill the Kanuku Block.

Partner Cairn Energy said work on the U.K. North Sea Kraken (32/16) project is progressing well and that it is on schedule and most importantly, under budget. Capex costs have been reduced by more than 10%, bringing the expected gross capex to $2.86 billion. The Kraken FPSO vessel continues to be on track for delivery in 2016.

Premier Oil said the U.K. North Sea Catcher (32/18) FPSO project is progressing on budget and is on schedule to deliver first oil in 2017.

Following completion of a successful subsea installation programme in 2015, fabrication of subsea equipment including the mooring system, due to be fully installed in the summer of 2016, remains on schedule.

Fabrication of the FPSO hull and topsides is ongoing in Asia and the sail-away date of the FPSO unit from Singapore for a 2017 field startup currently remains on schedule.

The first major FPSO hull section was successfully delivered in December to the yard in Japan from South Korea. Topsides module and turret construction continues to progress well in Batam and Singapore. The FPSO contractor currently plans the commencement of hull and integration work in Singapore from mid-year 2016.

The Solan Field is expected onstream in February.

ABS Group subsidiary Genesis Technology Solutions has been awarded a contract by Golar LNG to develop an intelligent maintenance strategy for the company’s new fleet of floating LNG (FLNG) vessels utilising the GoFLNG floating liquefaction technology.

ABS Group will provide a model for asset data, criticality rankings, spare parts analysis, a risk-based inspection strategy, failure mode and effects analysis and a maintenance programme for the first GoFLNG facility under construction, the Hilli, which will operate off the coast of Cameroon as well as for future vessels.