Offshore accommodation rig provider Floatel International has seen its contract with Ineos FPS delayed.
Floatel said Thursday that the two companies have agreed to postpone the charter for the Floatel Victory accommodation unit at the Unity platform in the UK North Sea to April 2021.
The contract for the semi-submersible accommodation unit was originally planned to start in May 2020.
The Floatel Victory flotel was delivered by Keppel in Singapore 2013. It can accommodate 560 people.
INEOS FPS is the operator of the UK's Forties Pipeline System, and also operates the normally unattended Unity Platform which serves as a gathering hub, receiving oil and gas via six incoming pipelines connected to other offshore installations operated by other companies.
INEOS FPS had planned to shut down the Forties Pipeline System for upgrades this year, but has earlier this month said to delay the shutdown for Spring 2021, citing customer requests.
The pipeline system, the largest pipeline system in the UK North Sea - opened in 1975 - transports crude oil and gas liquids from offshore and onshore entry points, processes the liquids at Kinneil and redelivers to the customer Forties Blend crude oil at Hound Point and either raw gas or fractionated gas products at Grangemouth.
INEOS, which purchased the pipeline system in 2017 from BP, last year said it would invest £500 million to prolong the life of the pipeline system that transports 40% of the UK’s Oil & Gas from North Sea Oil & Gas platforms to the mainland.
This investment is expected to prolong the life of FPS by at least 20 years supporting North Sea production into the 2040s. The pipeline system can transport up to 600,000 barrels of North Sea oil onshore for refining every day.