New technology made it possible to develop Ormen Lange with subsea installations.
Einar Kilde and his team headed the deployment of several thousand tonnes of installations at depths of down to 900 meters with centimeter-precision.
(Foto: StatoilHydro)
We had been lying there waiting for the weather for three weeks; for the sea to quieten down. These were long hours and days, and it was a test to our patience.
Finally the wind and the waves subsided, and we were ready to lower the huge templates onto the seabed. We only had one opportunity. Because when the skirts on the templates sink down on the deep sea floor, they are immovable. So it is essential that we get it right, with a precision of only a few centimeters.
Einar Kilde and the team responsible for the subsea installations had plenty to think about. For several months they had planned the critical operation down to the last detail.
Again and again they had gone through all imaginable scenarios. The list of things that could go wrong was studied thoroughly. However, in time the list of alternative ways of carrying out the operation had also been meticulously studied. In the end the likelihood of the submersion going wrong had been rendered comfortingly slim.
Nevertheless, there was a high when the templates were secured to the seabed. Just where they were meant to be. A milestone in the project had been reached and Einar Kilde felt that wonderful feeling in his diaphragm, a mixture of relief and pride. The world was full of champagne. For a short while. Because the tasks were mounting up in what is one of the world’s largest and most complicated developments at sea.
