Subsea 7 announced Thursday it has been awarded a contract for subsea pipelines and associated marine operations in the second phase of the large scale Johan Sverdrup project, in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
The contract, awarded by operator Equinor on behalf of the the Johan Sverdrup license, includes project management, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of approximately 100 kilometers of rigid infield pipelines, including 40 kilometers of pipe-in-pipe flowlines, 27 kilometers of water injection and 37 kilometers of gas injection pipelines and 25 spools. The marine operations scope includes the installation of 23 kilometers of umbilicals, tie-in spools and precommissioning.
Subsea 7 described the contract value as “substantial”, defined to be in the range of $150-300 million.
Project management and engineering will commence immediately at Subsea 7’s offices in Stavanger. Fabrication will take place at Subsea 7’s spoolbase at Vigra, Norway and offshore operations will be carried out in 2021 using a number of vessels, including one of the firm’s diving vessels and a reel-lay vessel specially designed to deliver flowline technologies that address long-distance and more complex tieback developments.
Monica Bjørkmann, Subsea 7’s Vice President Norway, said, “This award continues our long-standing collaborative relationship with Equinor and draws upon Subsea 7’s substantial experience in delivering SURF [subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines] solutions reliably, safely and sustainably. Subsea 7 looks forward to working closely with Equinor to successfully deliver our workscope on Johan Sverdrup, with safety and quality at the forefront throughout.”
The Johan Sverdrup development, located about 160 kilometers west from Stavanger, is regarded as Norway’s biggest industrial project in modern history. The Johan Sverdrup licensees are Equinor (operator, 40.0267%), Lundin Norway (22.6%), Petoro (17.36%), Aker BP (11.5733%) and Total (8.44%).
The first phase of the development, including the development of four platforms (accommodation and utility platform, processing platform, drilling platform, riser platform), three subsea installations for water injection, power from shore, export pipeline for oil (Mongstad) and gas (Kårstø), is nearly 90% completed, with expected production start in November 2019.
In phase 1, Subsea 7 was responsible for delivery and installation of several subsea components and tie-in of pipelines at the field.
Phase 2 of the Johan Sverdrup development was approved by Norwegian authorities in May 2019, and includes development of another processing platform for the field center and the Avaldsnes, Kvitsøy and Geitungen satellite areas, in addition to the power-from-shore supply to the Utsira High (including the Edvard Grieg, Ivar Aasen and Gina Krog fields). Start-up of phase 2 is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022.
“Subsea 7 is awarded the last major subsea contract for Johan Sverdrup phase 2. Based on good experiences and learning from phase one, the award will ensure continuity and a coherent development of the entire Johan Sverdrup field. This will give us a good foundation for enhancing our collaboration on safety, efficiency and further improvements in the execution phase and afterwards in the operating phase,” says Trond Bokn, project director for the Johan Sverdrup development.