Statoil awards North Sea Sverdrup hookup contracts

Jan. 31, 2017
Statoil has awarded Aibel and Aker Solutions contracts for hookup and commissioning assistance for the Johan Sverdrup field center in the Norwegian North Sea.

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Statoil has awarded Aibel and Aker Solutions contracts for hookup and commissioning assistance for the Johan Sverdrup field center in the Norwegian North Sea.

This is the final major contract under Phase 1 of the project. The contracts carry a total value of just below NOK 1.3 billion ($157 million), excluding options.

Aibel will manage hookup and commissioning of the drilling platform at the field center in 2018, with an option for similar work the following year on the processing and accommodation platforms which are due to be installed in 2019.

Work has already started, managed from the company’s office in Haugesund. At the Haugesund yard, construction of the drilling platform is over halfway toward completion.

Aibel expects to complete the topsides for the drilling platform to be ready for installation in spring 2018. Then, the Aibel crew will start an intensive offshore phase, with up to 600 employees working in rotation through summer 2019.

Aker Solutions is responsible for hookup and commissioning of the riser platform in 2018, again with an option for similar duties on the processing and accommodation platforms in 2019.

The company plans to work closely with subcontractorKvaerner on joining together the platform’s seven modules, which will be transported to Norway during 2Q 2018. The scope extends to planning, management, and prefabrication. 

Work gets under way next month and will initially draw in around 100 personnel from Aker Solutions, Kvaerner, and Statoil, rising to a peak of 1,000 next year. Most of the program will be undertaken in Stavanger and offshore.

Hookup takes in the four Johan Sverdrup platforms, wells, subsea equipment, export pipelines, and power from shore to form a fully functioning field center expected to come onstream in late 2019.

In addition, two mobile accommodation facilities will ensure housing capacity for more than 1,200 people offshore.

Sverdrup project director Kjetil Digre said: “The scope of work is extensive and in the peak period an estimated 650 positions will be needed offshore, rotating on three shifts, i.e. almost 2,000 offshore workers.”

“The Johan Sverdrup commissioning will be the most complex and extensive commissioning project offshore that Statoil has ever been responsible for over its 40 years as an operator on the Norwegian continental shelf,” he added.

01/31/2017