Bids for building the deck and living quarters for Statoil's Kvitebjørn platform in the North Sea must be submitted by today, 22 May.
The total cost of building and installing this structure is put at NOK 5.2 billion, reports project manager Bjarne Bakken.
He expects broad competition over all these assignments, and believes that this will probably be reflected in prices.
The job of transporting and installing the jacket and topsides was awarded in April to Saipem UK, while the remaining bids – for the drilling facilities and jacket – have deadlines of 24 May and 7 June respectively.
Platform construction manager Henning Dale reports that Statoil aims to award the contracts in July, and hopes the winners can start engineering and procurement in August-September. Actual fabrication could then begin in the summer of 2001.
Plans call for the platform to start delivering gas to continental Europe in 2004.
Statoil has a 40 per cent interest in Kvitebjørn, with the state's direct financial interest (SDFI) holding 40 per cent, Norsk Hydro 15 per cent and Elf five per cent.