![]() “We included experienced old construction workers, who got the jobs they wanted, young people who had fled unemployment at home, university students and a few expectant adventure-seekers. We came from Cameroon, Angola, Czechoslovakia, Canada, Poland, West Germany and the UK, and naturally from Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. One of these was Swede Gunnar Gramnes, who wanted to give the Norwegian oil adventure a try during the summer of 1986 and has provided the following account (abridged). Some of these workers have also regarded their experience of the platforms and constructing them as the great challenge of their lives. Stout backs and strong arms were required to build these huge structures. ![]() Many people earned their first oil money and financed their studies through long summer days on and beside the Gands Fjord, where these concrete gravity base structures (GBSs) were raised by a process known as slipforming. Olsen won international recognition with the award of the Gustave Magnel gold medal for the Draugen platform design in 1991. He produced the final solution used for Beryl A and played a highly significant part in subsequent designs. His enthusiasm and ability to put the case allowed him to make a big contribution in the demanding initial period.ĭr techn Olav Olsen was Norway’s leading expert on shell structures and involved in the development work from the word go. Helge Molland was the executive responsible for developing collaboration with other companies and for the active market cultivation required to succeed with such a pioneering project. He later applied for a patent covering the design. Three who were particularly important in this context are mentioned here.Įngineer Olav Mo came up with the idea for the structure, and played a big role in its technical refinement. Many people contributed to the development of the Condeep concept. This had consequences for the whole of NC and posed challenges for the Draugen, Troll and Heidrun platforms. The Sleipner A GBS sank in the Gands Fjord in April 1991 (see separate article). Water depths down to 300 metres represented a particular challenge, and the Draugen GBS marked an important product in this context. NC made a big leap forward technologically during this period by introducing several new platform solutions simultaneously, both fixed and floating. The final phase began in 1988 with the start to constructing the first Sleipner A GBS and ended with the delivery of the Troll A platform in 1995. ![]() All Condeeps had to be designed accordingly from 1980. It was now the government demanded that it must be possible to remove concrete platforms from the fields when production had ceased. The next phase covered 1978-88 and embraced the construction of six Condeeps – all for licences operated by Norwegian companies. This period ended with the delivery of the GBSs for Statfjord A and the TCP-2 platform to stand on the Frigg field in the course of 1977. The initial five years were a typical pioneering period, where attention was concentrated on delivery and less concern was paid to further development. NC’s development can be split into three phases, starting in 1973 with the contract to build the first Condeep for Mobil’s Beryl A platform in the UK North Sea sector. They combined a number of technical advantages with a short construction time and low lifetime costs, and thereby represented big savings for the oil companies. These gravity base structures (GBSs), which sit solidly on the seabed through their own weight, introduced prestressed concrete as a construction material for the offshore sector. ![]() This became particularly clear through a unique creation – the concrete deepwater structure (Condeep) to support production facilities on the continental shelf. The formation of Norwegian Contractors (NC) in 1973 as a joint venture between A/S Høyer-Ellefsen, Ingeniør F Selmer A/S and Ingeniør Thor Furuholmen A/S nevertheless demonstrated that the country had its own resources for meeting the big new challenges. Photo: Norwegian Contractors/Norwegian Petroleum Museum © Norsk Oljemuseum om å jobbe på glid, parkering, jåttåvågen, A lot of people participated during the large Draugen slipform in Jåttåvågen.
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