The Volve field operated by Statoil in the North Sea is to be developed with a jack-up rig and storage ship chartered from Mærsk Contractors Norge and Teekay Norge respectively.
Letters of intent for providing these units have now been signed with the two contractors.
The Mærsk Inspirer rig will function as a production platform on the field, with tanker Navion Saga storing the oil for onward shipment.
Gas is to be piped to Statoil’s Sleipner A platform, roughly eight kilometres to the south of Volve, for final processing and export.
“After careful consideration in the partnership, we’ve concluded that this is the best and most cost-effective development solution,” says Volve project manager Svein Løining.
The deals with Mærsk and Teekay have an overall framework of NOK 3-4 billion, depending on how long the field remains in production.
Total development and operating costs for Volve are put at roughly NOK 6 billion, including investments of just under NOK 2 billion.
Three production wells, three water injection wells and two water production wells are due to be drilled from the platform.
The field is expected to come on stream in the first quarter of 2007 and to continue producing for four years.
A plan for development and operation is to be submitted to the Norwegian authorities in February, and the present contracts are conditional on that submission and on approval by the government.
Recoverable reserves in Volve are put at 60 million barrels of oil and a billion cubic metres of gas, with plateau output expected to be 50,000 barrels per day.
Statoil has a 49.6 per cent interest in the licence, with ExxonMobil holding 30.4 per cent, Total 10 per cent and Norsk Hydro 10 per cent.