Hydro has awarded Technip two EPIC contracts (engineering, procurement, installation and construction worth around EUR 147 million (NOK 1.2 billion) combined, for the subsea development of the Fram East and Vilje projects in the North Sea.
The contracts include engineering, fabrication, installation and construction of flowlines, risers and umbilicals, tie-ins, manifold installation and subsea equipment protection work.
"This is the largest contract awarded by both the Fram East and the Vilje projects. This is also an important milestone for both projects, since all the major contracts now have been awarded and we are entering the construction and installation phase of the field developments," says Bjørn Hjermann, Fram East development project manager.
The project management and engineering will be carried out at Technip Offshore Norge’s office in Oslo. The flowlines will be fabricated at the Group’s welding bases in Orkanger, Norway and Evanton, UK for Fram East and Vilje, respectively.
Flexible pipes will be manufactured at Technip’s Le Trait facility in France, while the umbilicals will be manufactured by one of Technip’s UK subsidiaries, Duco, based in Newcastle.
All offshore work will take place in summer 2006 using several vessels from Technip’s fleet, including Apache, Wellservicer and Normand Pioneer.
Fram Øst is located 19 kilometres north of the Troll field at a sea depth of 360 meters. It will be a subsea installation with five oil producers and two wells for water injection tied up to the Troll C platform. Production start up is planned for October 2006.
Partners in the Fram licence:
| Norsk Hydro Produksjon a.s (operator) | 25% |
| Mobil Development Norway AS | 25% |
| Statoil ASA | 20% |
| Gaz de France Norge AS | 15% |
| Idemitsu Petroleum Norge AS | 15% |
The Vilje field is located 20 kilometres north of the Heimdal field at a sea depth of 110 meters. It will be a subsea installation with two oil producers tied up to the Alvheim production installation 19 kilometers away. Production start up is planned for the first half of 2007.
Partners in the Vilje licence:
| Norsk Hydro Produksjon a.s. (operator) | 28.853% |
| Total E&P Norge AS | 24.243% |
| Marathon Petroleum Norge AS | 46.904% |