Norway's Statoil signed letters of intent with Aibel and the Aker Solutions-Kvaerner joint venture on Thursday for the development of the second phase of the Johan Sverdrup field, one of the five biggest oil fields on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The company said the total value of the contracts is estimated at more than $1.4 billion for the field that is expected to have resources of between 2-3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
The Norwegian company said the first phase of the field development is well underway with planned startup in late 2019.
The contract to be awarded to Aibel includes engineering, procurement and construction of the topside for the second Johan Sverdrup processing platform, which will extend production capacity on the field from 440,000 to 660,000 barrels of oil per day after startup in 2022.
The contract to be awarded to the Aker Solutions-Kvaerner joint venture includes engineering, procurement and construction of a utility module for the riser platform, field center modifications, and installation and hook-up activities related to the second phase development.
'To promote synergies, continuity and a holistic development of the entire field, the Johan Sverdrup partnership is issuing letters of intent for the development of phase 2 of the project. The contracts will be awarded later this year. Production start for the second phase is planned in 2022,' the company explained.
'Good and close collaboration with our suppliers has been an important factor behind the improvements that we have seen so far in the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development. Signing these two agreements involving three of our main suppliers from first phase expresses our desire to build on the experiences, collaboration and skill-sets developed into the second phase of the project,' said Kjetel Digre, senior vice president for Johan Sverdrup in Statoil.
Statoil holds 40.02 percent of the field while Lundin Norway holds a 22.6 percent share, Petoro has a 17.36 percent stake, Aker BP holds a 11.57 percent interest and Maersk Oil has a.44 percent share.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr