Statoil has awarded Kværner the contract for the Johan Castberg topsides.
The contract includes the construction and installation of the topside structure for the floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) to be located on the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea. The contract has a total value of about NOK 3.8 billion. The development work will take place at several yards along the Norwegian coast.
“This is one of the large pieces of the Johan Castberg puzzle, and is a key component of the FPSO. The contract includes building a total of ten modules, a flare boom and central pipe rack. The international competition for the contract has been tough, and we look forward to working closely with Kværner in the years to come. Norwegian suppliers have again demonstrated their competitiveness,” says Torger Rød, Statoil’s senior vice president for project management control.
Kværner will utilise a number of yards along the Norwegian coast for the construction work. Yards in Sandnessjøen, Verdal, Stord and Egersund will all be used.The construction work is scheduled to last until 2021, followed by a complex assembly period. In this period the topside structure will be installed on the hull and connected to the turret. First oil from the field is scheduled for the first half of 2022.
“The Johan Castberg development will generate substantial spinoffs for Norwegian supply industry in the years ahead. The field is also essential to the further development of industry in Northern Norway, and we are pleased that this contract will help increase activities in the north,” says Pål Eitrheim, Statoil’s chief procurement officer.
Johan Castberg will be the sixth project on stream in Northern Norway. The field has been important to the further development of the oil and gas industry in the north. Thanks to Johan Castberg infrastructure will be developed in a new area of the NCS.
Capital expenditures for the Johan Castberg project are estimated at some NOK 49 billion (Capex numbers in nominal terms based on fixed currency) and the jobs generated nationwide during the development are estimated at slightly less than 47 000 man-years.
The field will be producing for more than 30 years, and substantial spinoffs will be generated in the long production phase. Castberg will create considerable activities for Norwegian supply companies and generate ripple effects in Northern Norway. Recoverable resources are estimated at 450 - 650 million boe.
Statoil sanctioned projects worth NOK 90 billion in 2017 on the NCS. Norwegian suppliers have secured 70% of the contracts related to these projects so far.The contact is subject to government approval of the plan for development and operation (PDO).
Saipem has been awarded a new contract in the onshore E&C sector worth approximately USD 750 million. Work involves engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning under Package 3 “Offsite Facilities” in the framework of the development of the Duqm Refinery situated near the coast in the north east of Oman.
The contract was awarded by Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company L.L.C, a Joint Venture between the Oman Oil Company (OOC), the national oil company, and Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI). Once completed, the refinery will have a capacity of around 230,000 barrels per day.
Stefano Cao, Saipem CEO, commented: “We welcome with particular satisfaction the awarding of this new contract which signals the relaunch of our activities in Oman, a country in which Saipem has operated successfully in the past”.
BP has commenced gas production from the $1bn Atoll phase one field offshore Egypt, seven months ahead of schedule.
Located in the North Damietta Concession offshore Egypt in the East Nile Delta, the Atoll field was discovered by BP in March 2015. It is being developed in phases.
BP estimates the Atoll field’s main reservoir to hold 1.5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas and 31 million metric barrels (mmbl) of condensates.The project, which is now producing 350 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmscfd) and 10,000 barrels a day (bpd) of condensate, was delivered 33% below the initial cost estimate, BP said.BP group CEO Bob Dudley said: “The longstanding partnerships we have in Egypt allowed us to fast-track Atoll’s development and deliver first gas only 33 months after discovery.”
The Atoll Phase One involved the recompletion of the original Atoll exploration well to a producing well, and drilling of two more production wells.BP North Africa regional president Hesham Mekawi said: “Atoll is our first major project in Egypt to be delivered in 2018, following the West Nile Delta Taurus and Libra project and then Zohr last year.”
Production from the Atoll gas field is being exported to the existing onshore West Harbor gas processing plant.Separately, the governments of Mauritania and Senegal have signed Inter-Government Cooperation Agreement (ICA), allowing the development of BP-operated Tortue/Ahmeyim gas project through cross-border unitization.
Located offshore on the border between Mauritania and Senegal, the Tortue/Ahmeyim gas field is estimated to contain 15 tcf of gas resources.The ICA allows the development of the Tortue/Ahmeyim gas field with a 50%-50% initial split of resources and revenues.
BP and its project partners including Kosmos Energy expects to make final investment decision (FID) for the Greater Tortue project by the end of 2018, with production scheduled to commence in 2021.
UK-based oilfield services company Wood Group has bagged a new five-year-contract from Saudi Aramco to help it develop the Marjan oil field in Saudi Arabia.As part of the multi-million dollar worth contract, Wood will provide engineering and project management services to the project located in the country’s Eastern Province.
Wood plans to execute the front end engineering design (FEED), major increment and overall project management consultancy from its offices in Reading UK, Saudi Arabia, Khobar and India offices.The contract given to Wood is part of the multi-billion dollar Marjan Crude Increment Program, which is one of the oil and gas mega-projects of Saudi Aramco.
Wood CEO Robin Watson said: “We look forward to working in close partnership with Saudi Aramco to bring our broad and enduring expertise in engineering and project management to this project, which is significant for both our client and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.“Our focus will be applying our ingenuity, range of capabilities and in-country knowledge to ensure its safe and successful delivery.”
Currently, Wood is also providing pre-FEED and FEED for Saudi Aramco’s Unconventional Gas Program as well as detailed engineering and procurement for its Sulphate Removal Facilities projects.
In November last year, Saudi Aramco had signed eight agreements worth $4.5bn with oil and gas service contractors, mainly to enhance gas production. The firm has signed three agreements with Madrid-based Técnicas Reunidas for a gas compression program, which aims to improve production from the Haradh and Hawiyah fields.Over the next 20 years, the scheme aims to produce an additional 1 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) from the two fields.