Statoil, together with Hydro and ExxonMobil, has awarded two maintenance contracts to Norwegian GE Energy Services and MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg of Germany. The total value is around NOK 700 million.
The contract period spans three years, with the possibility of two, three-year options.
The contracts apply to service and maintenance of gas turbines of the type General Electric Land & Marine (GE LM), that are installed both onshore and on the Norwegian continental shelf. The contracts are due to take effect from 1 December 2006.
Statoil has also previously collaborated with GE Energy Services on gas turbine maintenance.
"We'll continue this partnership," says Frank W Arnesen, Statoil's vice president for procurement in Statoil's operations support cluster Exploration & Production Norway.
"We'll also pave the way for increased competition when we now divide these contracts in two."
"The two companies will be awarded equal shares of the workload. And the new contracts also have clear goals of achieving even better HSE results."
They also contain an option on international service and maintenance activities for GE LM turbines.
Around 75% of the contract sum is expected to be used on Statoil-operated fields.
Gas turbines produce electricity as well as driving gas compressors and water injection pumps.
The three companies operate 100 turbines in total. Statoil operates 73, Hydro 25 and ExxonMobil, two.