The Kårstø Gas Plant north of Stavanger will undergo comprehensive upgrading over the next few years.

KEP2010 is a common term for several projects whose purpose it is to make the Kårstø facilities more robust for safe and efficient operations for many years to come. The project's framework investment is estimated at around NOK 6.5 billion.

The Kårstø facilities are owned by the Gassled partnership. Gassled's management committee anctioned KEP2010 on 3 July. Plans call for the completion of KEP2010 projects between 2010 and 2012, with upgrading work beginning in the autumn of 2008. The KEP2010 workforce working on site will comprise around 500 personnel at peak.

Gassco is operator of the Kårstø plant on behalf of the owners of Gassled. Statoil is technical services provider.

The upgrade covers both electrical and instrumentation systems. A review of the plant’s present safety systems compared with statutory and Gassco and Statoil's internal requirements shows that some of these systems need replacing.

"The upgrade mainly concerns replacing older with more modern equipment," says Knut Barland, senior vice president of Statoil's processing and transport business cluster in Natural Gas (NG).

"This is an extensive operation that will take place in many areas of the plant and a number of systems simultaneously. Our main focus will be HSE receiving top priority throughout the project period."

A number of mechanical modifications and upgrades will also take place, both with a view to improved regularity, accessibility and technical safety.

"The work's scope is tailored to the planned turnarounds at Kårstø to minimise the extent of production disruption," says Arnulf Østensen, vice president for technical operations in Gassco.

M W Kellogg Ltd in London has been awarded the contract for KEP2010 engineering work, worth around NOK 1 billion. M W Kellogg has carried out pre-engineering for KEP2010 since June last year with Sørco AS and Norconsult AS as subcontractors.

The Kårstø plant plays a key role in the transport and treatment of gas and condensate from important areas of the Norwegian continental shelf. More than 30 fields are tied back to Kårstø via pipeline. Around 30% of natural gas delivered from Norway annually is exported via Kårstø.