Total Delays Start of Martin Linge Field by a Year

French major Total has had to delay by a year the start up of its Martin Linge oil and gas field off Norway, it said July 6, following a tragic accident at the South Korean shipyard that was building the production vessel.

Upstream head Arnaud Breuillac said the company was "deeply saddened by the accident that occurred at the yard on May 1. Our thoughts are first and foremost with the families and colleagues of the victims who lost their lives or suffered injuries."

Total said that the works related to the Martin Linge project at the Geoje shipyard were suspended until June 1 and as a result, the shipping of the Martin Linge modules from the South Korean yard to Norway will be delayed by a year from 2018, owing to the weather conditions prevailing in the Norwegian North Sea.

"Given the hook-up and commissioning operations, production start-up has been delayed to first half 2019," it said. The Martin Linge oil and gas field is in the North Sea about 180 km west of Bergen, Norway. The project partners are Total (51% operator), Petoro (30%) and Statoil (19%).

Rich gas will be transported by pipeline to the Frigg UK gas pipeline and on to the St Fergus terminal in the UK. Oil and condensate will be exported via tankers from the floating storage and offtake vessel. The field has estimated recoverable reserves of 190mn barrels of oil equivalent, the gas being in a high temperature, high pressure formation.

In the same statement, Total said that the central processing facilities for the Ichthys LNG project, operated by Inpex, had already departed the Geoje yard several days before the accident and is now installed on the field in offshore Australia. "The start-up of Ichthys, in which Total holds 30% alongside Inpex (62.245%), has therefore not been impacted by the accident and is scheduled for 1Q 2018."

William Powell