Statoil needed to upgrade the fire pumps on the Statfjord A platform, and saved $2.3M by choosing Auto-Maskin as their main supplier.

Statfjord A, a massive oil platform with a total height of 270 meters, is Statoil’s oldest platform and represents the history of the company’s inception. Originally, the plan was to recover 40% of the oil in the Statfjord field, but an extension means that Statfjord A will still be in operation 40 years after its start of production in November 1979. The outcome so far is a record 66%, and the goal is to recover 74% of the gas from Statfjord.

But time takes its toll, and in 2009, plans were made to upgraded both emergency fire pumps with new control panels, motor cables and sensors. In a 4 MNOK study delivered in 2011, an external company estimated a cost of about 24 MNOK and a completion time of approximately 2 months per pump. But some of Statoil’s own people believed that with the right partner, they could do the job themselves in a shorter time and to a lower cost, and in November 2012, they got the go ahead.

Statoil found the right partner, Auto-Maskin, through the Caterpillar dealer Pon Power, and Auto-Maskin was made the main supplier with full project responsibility for delivery and execution. With a lean project organization and skilled people with the right attitude, the upgrade was finished within little more than one year of the first meeting. The first pump was upgraded in only 10 days in May, and the last pump was upgraded in as little as 7 days in November 2013. The short downtimes were vital for Statoil and impressive compared to the 2 times 2 months estimated in the original study.

Statoil saved more than 20 MNOK ($2.3M) by doing the upgrades themselves, and Tor R. Kristiansen in Statoil states that Auto-Maskin was an important part of the successful project: – “We always had direct contact with our main supplier and things were quickly clarified and coordinated along the way. Auto-Maskin impressed us with their Down to earth attitude, professional competence and reliable follow-up.”

Read more about Statfjord here.

Read the detailed story in Statoil’s own words here.