French cabling and connectivity solutions specialist, Nexans, has been contracted by Equinor to design and manufacture umbilicals to control the Askeladd’s subsea production systems in the Barents Sea.

The Snøhvit gas field in the Barents Sea is now entering part two of its multi-phase development plan with Equinor and its partners investing over half a billion euros in the Askeladd development which will provide feedstock for the onshore LNG (liquified natural gas) plant at Melkøya in Hammerfest.

The contract under which Nexans will design, manufacture and supply a total of 42 kilometers of static infield and interfield umbilicals to control the subsea production systems, is aimed at supporting the new phase of development, Nexans said in a statement.

The Askeladd development, at a water depth of about 250 meters, will supply 21 billion cubic meters of gas and two million cubic meters of condensate to the Hammerfest LNG plant, with production scheduled to come on stream towards the end of 2020.

It will tie-in to the existing Snøhvit field infrastructure which features Nexans’ umbilicals installed in previous projects, including a 145 kilometer umbilical that is still the longest umbilical in the world.

For the Askeladd development, Nexans will provide static subsea umbilicals with a cross-section comprising 3 kilovolts (kV) power, fiber-optic communications and hydraulic elements for chemical injection, together with a range of connection and termination accessories.

The delivery of the Nexans umbilicals for the Askeladd development is scheduled for the first quarter of 2020.