World's First Subsea Compressors for Gas Production on the sea floor
Special compressor units for Norway

02.02.2011 + + + MAN Diesel & Turbo Schweiz AG, Zurich, has received an order to supply four compressors that will be used on the sea floor at a depth of around 250 metres to produce natural gas from the Åsgard field in the North Sea.

The client is Aker Solutions ASA, Oslo, which received the go-ahead in December 2010 from Norwegian energy company Statoil ASA to develop and build a complete subsea gas production system.

MAN Diesel & Turbo Schweiz AG’s input will include specialist compressors as well as all maintenance and servicing over the machinery’s entire lifecycle.

“This order represents a major milestone for our hermetically sealed specialist compressors, which are powered by our proprietary electric motors. It certainly marks a major milestone for the entire oil and gas industry”, says Klaus Stahlmann, CEO of MAN Diesel & Turbo SE, Augsburg. Dr. Uwe Lauber, Head of the Oil & Gas Business Unit and Managing Director of the Swiss subsidiary of MAN Diesel & Turbo adds: “Aker Solutions’ confidence confirms our leading position in subsea compression, a field that we have been working very intensively on with Statoil since 2005.”

The four machines will be built, tested and supplied within the next year by MAN Diesel & Turbo in Zurich. Commissioning is scheduled for 2014.

The Åsgard gas reserves are located around 200 km off the coast of Norway at a depth of between 240 and 310 metres. It is the world’s first project in which gas is produced and compressed on the sea floor.

Compression systems installed directly on the sea bed are significantly safer and more energy efficient at tapping gas reserves. Compared to traditional platforms, the investments and running costs are also significantly lower.

The new concept can be used for most of the gas reserves in the world's seas and oceans

MAN Diesel & Turbo Schweiz AG - info@ch.manturbo.com

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