OREANDA-NEWS. On behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partnership Statoil will today sign a detail engineering contract for the Johan Sverdrup development with Aker Solutions.

Worth NOK 4.5 billion the contract includes engineering and procurement management (EPma) until the scheduled production start in 2019.

The contract includes engineering and procurement management for the riser and processing platform topsides for the Johan Sverdrup field, phase one, in addition to hook-up work and gangways for the entire field.

Aker Solutions has so far been responsible for the front-end engineering of all four platforms that constitute the field centre, a contract signed at the end of 2013.

Arne Sigve Nylund, executive vice president for Development and Production Norway in Statoil. (Photo: Harald Pettersen)

“In light of the Johan Sverdrup project’s ambitious progress plan having competent cooperation partners that share our goals is essential. Through the front-end engineering phase several hundred Statoil employees have been stationed at Aker Solutions. Together we have formed the basis for a seamless transition to detail engineering which will ensure a cost-effective progress plan,” says Arne Sigve Nylund, Statoil’s executive vice president for Development and Production Norway.

“The Johan Sverdrup field development is of great importance, not just to Statoil and our partners, but also to the supply industry and society. At plateau, the production from this field will account for 25% of the combined production on the Norwegian continental shelf. Although the prospects for the future of the field are very good maintaining the right focus on costs both in the construction and operations phase is essential,” Nylund concludes.

Margareth ?vrum, executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling in Statoil. (Photo: Harald Pettersen)

“Targeted efforts have been made to cut costs and improve the efficiency of the deliveries. We are therefore pleased to see that Norwegian suppliers are competitive and that we can sign this contract with Aker Solutions. They have started their own improvement work and their deliveries on our integrated cooperation at Sverdrup are progressing well. This is an important contract for the project, and our expectations for the implementation are high”, says Margareth ?vrum, Statoil’s executive vice president for Technology, Projects and Drilling.

“As the EPma supplier Aker Solutions gets a key role in the Johan Sverdrup project, and is thus an important contributor to a successful project.  We look forward to a close and good partnership,” she ends.

This contract award is conditional on an investment decision for the Johan Sverdrup development in February 2015, and is subject to the approval of the Plan for Development and Operation for the field in Parliament in 2015. 

A press conference will be held in room 705 Rica Park Hotel in Sandefjord at 8:45 today.