Shell inspects subsea gear at the curtailed Ormen Lange Gas Field

Shell has been troubleshooting a subsea system at its Ormen Lange offshore gas field in the Norwegian Sea, where output has been reduced since February 16.

Shell Norway mobilised a ship with a remotely controlled vehicle (ROV) which arrived at the site to inspect underwater parts, according to a spokesperson of the field operator.

Ormen Lange is located 120 km (75 miles), off the Norwegian coast. Its subsea installations are at a depth of 800-1,100 meters (0.5-0.7miles).

Since February 16, output?has been reduced by approximately 11.9 million cubic meters (mcms) of gas each day, from a maximum capacity of 26 mcms per day. This was initially due to a compressor failure. Later it was for maintenance.

Shell has stated that weather conditions can be a factor in the duration of the outage.

Shell's spokesperson stated that "other subsea gear is working normally, and any updates affecting production will be announced on the Gassco portal." Reporting by Nora Buli and editing by Terje Solsvik

(source: Reuters)