STORD, Norway, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- French energy giant GDF Suez and Norway's Statoil teamed up to develop an oil and gas platform for the Gjoa field in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea.
GDF Suez announced the deck and hull of the oil and gas platform were mated off the coast of Norway. The operation, conducted by Aker Solutions for Statoil, used four guide pins to line up a deck the size of a football field to its hull with a margin of error of about 1 inch in all directions.
Statoil serves as the operator of the Gjoa field during the development phase. GDF Suez takes over the production phase in 2010.
Once installed, the floating platform in Gjoa will be the first to use electric power from mainland Norway. This, GDF Suez said, will reduce emissions to a level equal to removing 100,000 cars from regional roads.
The Gjoa field holds roughly 82 million barrels of oil and an estimated 1.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
