A memorandum of understanding on fabricating and mating the topsides for the semi-submersible platform planned on Statoil’s Gjøa field in the North Sea has been awarded to Aker Kvaerner.
The two sides now aim to conclude a final contract covering detail engineering, procurement, construction and assembly of the topside plus its mating with the platform hull.
“This deal helps to safeguard implementation of the Gjøa development in a difficult market,” says project manager Kjetel Rokseth Digre.
Aker Kvaerner is still working on pre-engineering for the field, with completion due for October. The value of the contract will be announced once it has been finalised.
“Its involvement in the pre-engineering means that Aker Kvaerner is very familiar with the development solutions for Gjøa,” says Mr Digre.
“This company has also carried out a number of similar projects for us and for other operators on the Norwegian continental shelf. We expect Gjøa to benefit from the experience gained in these developments for the precision of its final quality as well as delivery at the right time and the right cost.”
The project team is also due to award contracts for the drilling rig, subsea production facilities, hull, living quarters, cables, flexible risers, pipeline steel and installation.
Set to come on stream in 2010, Gjøa was proven during 1989 in blocks 35/9 and 36/7. Its reserves are put at 82 million barrels of oil and condensate and 40 billion cubic metres of natural gas.
Final award of the contract is conditional on the agreement of the partners to submit the plans for development and operation (PDO) and installation and operation (PIO) of Gjøa, and on official approval of these proposals.
The latter will be piped through Britain’s Flags system to St Fergus in Scotland, while the oil is sent to the Statoil-operated Mongstad terminal near Bergen via a tie-in to the Troll II pipeline.
Statoil is responsible for developing Gjøa, with Gaz de France due to take over as production operator when the field comes on stream.
The licensees are Gaz de France with 30%, Petoro 30%, Statoil 20%, Shell 12% and RWE Dea 8%.