courtesy Statoil

Statoil on Monday turned-on the sub-sea installations at its 193-billion-cubic-metre Snoehvit gas field off Hammerfest in the Arctic, a first in Norway for facilities remotely controlled from land.

Operations staff have taken over from those overseeing the build-up on- and offshore, although a "just-in-case" vessel will hover over field facilities for a number days.

The world's first Arctic liquefied natural gas project has, meanwhile, pushed its well stream to shore. The well stream will stay in the pipeline as far as the energy-defeating slug catcher to be processed this summer.

The sub-sea template and pipelines to shore are controlled via control room at Melkoya (Milk Island), just off Hammerfest.

A 140-plus-kilometre cable and pipeline are the world's longest of their kind and represent advances in equipment and multiphase technology developed in Norway.