Tenders have been invited for the main contracts relating to Statoil's Kvitebjørn development in the Norwegian North Sea.
Orders are conditional on the field being given the green light to deliver gas under existing sales contracts.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is due to decide whether the project should proceed, and which fields should be allocated to supply additional Norwegian gas. Decisions are expected before Easter.
"We sent out invitations to tender for the deck and the drilling facilities on 5 April," reports project director Bjarne Bakken.
He adds that bid documents for the quarters module and the jacket will be distributed before Easter.
Tenders were invited in late March for the production drilling assignment, while a contract for transport and installation of jacket and topsides was awarded to Saipem UK on 14 March with government approval.
"Plans call for all the major Kvitebjørn contracts to be let by the end of August," reports Mr Bakken. The total bill for developing the field is put at NOK 7.6 billion.
The Kvitebjørn licensees applied in December to the Gas Supply Committee (FO) for allocation to a gas sales contract. A plan for development and operation was submitted to the ministry at the same time.
All three partners – Norsk Hydro and Elf as well as Statoil – are behind the plan, which calls for gas deliveries to begin in 2004.