Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Statoil (OSE:STL;NYSE:STO) has awarded contracts totaling $1.56 billion for three new “Category A” light well intervention (LWI) vessels, two to Island Offshore Management and one to Eide Marine Services.

The Cat-A LWI design is suited for well interventions, operations, and maintenance without a riser. Statoil says it can cut its well intervention costs by about 60% using these vessels compared with a conventional rig, particularly on wells with low volumes of in-place oil.

“Having more and new vessels of this category also helps increase recovery from fields onstream by opening new zones in the well, and stopping water production downhole,” said Statoil’s head of drilling and well Øystein Arvid Håland. 

The vessels aim to help Statoil increase recovery from roughly 500 operated subsea wells offshore Norway.

Island Offshore vessels Island Frontier and Island Wellserver, which were all ready under contract to Statoil, have received new five-year contracts. Eide Well Intervention has received an eight-year contract for its newbuild vessel.

All the contracts come into effect in spring 2015, and include two options for two-year extensions.

Statoil is developing increasing numbers of discoveries via subsea wells, and wants equipment capable of maintaining these wells but wants to avoid the use of conventional rigs for this type of work. The Norwegian sector rig fleet is aging, and the company wants to secure sufficient rig capacity at sustainable rates.

The Cat-A units will work on the Åsgard, Norne, Gullfaks, Oseberg, Heidrun, Snøhvit, Tyrihans, Tordis/Vigdis, Snorre, Statfjord, and Sleipner fields.

5/23/2012