Aker Solutions awarded new Johan Sverdrup contract

December 16, 2020 08:00 CET
Photo of the Johan Sverdrup field
The Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea. (Photo: Ole Jørgen Bratland)

Equinor and its Johan Sverdrup licence partners have awarded Aker Solutions the contract for hook-up of the fifth platform on the Johan Sverdrup field. At peak the contract will provide jobs for around 1,300 people and have a value of up to NOK 500 million.

Johan Sverdrup phase 2 includes a new processing platform currently under construction by Aibel. After the assembly in sheltered waters in 2021, it will be towed back to Haugesund for completion before installation on the field in the spring of 2022.

The new contract awarded to Aker Solutions covers hook-up on the field and other hook-up and completion tasks that must be carried out after the platform has been installed to prepare it for operation. It will be connected to the existing field installations by a gangway to the existing riser platform.

Aker Solutions was awarded a similar contract in the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup development.

“Now Aker Solutions is modifying the riser platform for phase 2 and can move on to  the hook-up and completion of the new processing platform on the field in 2022,” says Bjarne Bakken, project director for Johan Sverdrup phase 2.

Planning of the work will start immediately. At peak in 2022 the project will employ around 1,200 people distributed on three offshore shifts of 400 people each, in addition to an onshore organization of around 100 people. Production start for Johan Sverdrup phase 2 is planned in the fourth quarter of 2022.

“Johan Sverdrup phase 2 will provide high value creation with record-low emissions. The project generates activity and spinoffs in Norway. More than 90 percent of the project contracts have been awarded to Norwegian suppliers. The contracts have been awarded in strong international competition, proving the competitiveness of the Norwegian supplier industry,” says Peggy Krantz-Underland, Equinor’s chief procurement officer.

Licence owners: Equinor Energy AS: 42.6267% (operator), Lundin Energy Norway AS: 20%, Petoro AS 17.36%, Aker BP ASA: 11.5733% and Total E&P Norge AS: 8.44%.

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Facts about Johan Sverdrup

  • Johan Sverdrup is the third largest oil field on the Norwegian continental shelf, with expected resources of 2.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The ambition for the field is to achieve a recovery rate of more than 70 percent.
  • Break-even for the full field development is below USD 20 per barrel. Expected operating costs at plateau is below USD 2 per barrel.
  • In the first year on stream Johan Sverdrup has produced oil worth around NOK 50 billion, i.e. around 130 million barrels of oil (based on an average price of USD 40 per boe).
  • One barrel of oil produced at Johan Sverdrup during the first year has emitted 0.17kg CO2 – almost 100 times lower than the global average (measured in kilogrammes of CO2 per barrel produced). This is mainly due to the power supply from shore.
  • Johan Sverdrup phase 2 includes the construction of a subsea production system, reconstruction of the existing riser platform and a new processing platform (P2).
  • Phase 2 will also accommodate a converter plant for shore-based power supply. The plant will distribute power to other fields on the Utsira High: Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen, Gina Krog and Sleipner. The four existing platforms on the Johan Sverdrup field are already receiving power from shore.