The FINANCIAL — Statoil, on behalf of the partners in the Njord licence, on March 17 awards an EPC contract to Kværner for the upgrade of the Njord A platform in the Norwegian Sea.
The EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) contract is call-off under a framework agreement signed on 1 April 2016. The contract is worth some NOK 5 billion. Earlier call-offs under the contract were made in connection with pre-engineering and preparatory work, including platform assistance at the quay, towing into the dry dock and inspection, according to Statoil.
“The Njord partners have reached an important milestone in the process of upgrading the Njord A platform for further production. I am very pleased that we today can sign this contract with Kværner here at Stord. The contract will create around 3,000 man-years of employment,” says Torger Rød, head of project development in Statoil.
“The Njord A platform was towed to Kværner’s yard at Stord in August 2016, and was moved into the dry dock in December last year. The work to be performed now is essential to successfully resuming safe and efficient operations from the field and being a hub for future tie-in of new fields,” Rød says.
The platform will stay in the dry dock until the autumn of 2017 for extension and reinforcement of the hull. It will subsequently lie alongside the quay for further reinforcement and upgrading work in the period up to the delivery in 2020.
“This contract is another example of new local activity and jobs resulting from the transition that the whole Norwegian oil industry has undergone in the past few years. A competitive Norwegian supply industry is an enabler for delivering on the goals we have set for future production and value creation on the Norwegian continental shelf. These types of upgrading projects are complex. A high focus on health, safety and environmental performance is key to successful implementation,” says Pål Eitrheim, Statoil’s chief procurement officer.
The contract award is conditional pending approval of the Plan for Development and Operation (PDO) for Njord from the authorities. The Njord partners recently made an investment decision and are planning to submit PDO shortly.
According to plan the Njord A platform will be towed out on the field and ready to resume production at the end of 2020.
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