Water depths are roughly 240-300 metres. The subsea systems will be the most extensive in world, embracing a total of 51 wells grouped in 16 seabed templates linked by 300 km flowlines. It will come on stream in Autumn 2000. This monohull is permanently moored to the seabed and provides storage capacity on board for roughly 907,000 barrels of oil. It is able to produce up to 200,000 barrels per day.
Oil is transferred via a loading system to shuttle tankers for transport to customers or terminals.
Oil production began on 19 May 1999. The fabrication was carried out under a USD 1 billion turnkey EPIC contract with Kvaerner. It was built in Korea by Daewoo Heavy Industries under a USD 85 million contract. The hull measures 114 by 96 metres and weighs 19,000 tonnes. Heavy-lift carrier Mighty Servant 3 transported the hull to Norway in a 45 day journey.