Nortrym flotel in place

By Trude Meland, Norwegian Petroleum Museum

From the platform’s installation on the field until the summer of 1978, the number of workers on Statfjord A rose steadily. At peak, almost 2 700 people were employed on the platform. The tour pattern meant that 1 200 of these were offshore at any one time. More workers created a need for additional berths.

— Nortrym. Photo: Odd Noreger/Norwegian Petroleum Museum

The quarters module was installed on the topside before Statfjord A was towed out. This six-storey accommodation block housed four people in each cabin during the construction period, providing berths for 400.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Each cabin had four berths, divided into two top and two bottom bunks along one wall. A curtain could be drawn around each bunk. Three armchairs, a small table and a kind of bookshelf stood on the floor. Lockable wardrobes lined the wall – one for each bunk. Each cabin was en suite, with a shower, toilet and two hand basins. The unoccupied floor space measured six-seven square metres. Godø,Helge. Plattformbygging til havs. Stavanger 1980, p 57. Most of its residents were Mobil employees and Brown & Root/Brownaker management.

Two temporary quarters modules were also lifted on board in September 1977. But no space remained for these by May 1978, and they were transferred to a converted drilling rig which had arrived on the field. This Polymariner vessel could accommodate 600 people and was linked to Statfjord A by a covered bridge.

But even the additional quarters modules did not provide sufficient berths, and a second converted drilling rig – Nortrym – arrived on the field in November 1977. Also connected to Statfjord A by a bridge, it provided an extra 230 berths.

Wave conditions made it impossible at times to keep the bridges between these flotels and Statfjord A in place, and the workers had to be flown back and forth by helicopter. Such a flight took just over a minute, but the queues for one could last for hours.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Godø, Helge. Plattformbygging til havs. Stavanger 1980, p 64.

Another drawback with Nortrym was that its deck had to be reinforced before the quarters modules could be installed. The Gotaas-Larsen shipping company, which owned the rig, offered to do the job at land in 18 days, but Jørpeland believed his personnel on Statfjord A could do it offshore in seven.

This was accepted, and the rig was ready to receive the modules after five days. It was towed to land, the accommodation units installed and the rig returned to the field. After seven days, workers could move in.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Interview with Svein Jørpeland.