Aibel scores EPC deal for final bridge on Johan Sverdrup

Norwegian oil major Equinor has awarded Aibel the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the final bridge on the Johan Sverdrup field platform complex in the North Sea, offshore Norway.

Aibel said on Thursday that the 100-meter bridge would connect the P2 process platform with the riser platform at the field. The bridge weighs around 1,350 metric tons.

The contract was included as an option in Aibel’s initial contract for the Johan Sverdrup P2 topside awarded by Equinor in April 2018 and has an estimated value of NOK 200 million ($22.9 million).

Nils Arne Hatleskog, EVP of field development & offshore wind at Aibel, said: “This marks another important contract for Aibel at the Johan Sverdrup field. By awarding us the seventh consecutive contract to one of Norway’s most important industrial projects it confirms that Equinor is satisfied with our previous project deliveries and the ongoing work.”

Aibel’s earlier awards on the Johan Sverdrup field were the drilling platform and P2 process platform EPCs, power from shore Phase 1 and 2, offshore hook-up of the drilling platform, living quarters, and P1 process platform.

According to the company, the work with the bridge will be organized under the ongoing P2 project led by project director Stig Jessen.

“The design work in Asker is already well underway while the construction phase in Aibel’s yard in Thailand will start in the middle of 2020. The finished bridge is scheduled for delivery at our Haugesund yard in the end of 2021 together with the 23,000 tons P2 platform deck. The timing of the bridge construction is perfect as it comes on the tail end of the ongoing construction work in Thailand,” Jessen said.

The bridge is part of the second phase of the Johan Sverdrup project which includes the jacket-based P2 processing platform, modifications to the riser platform and the field center and phase 2 of the onshore power plant at Haugsneset.

These developments will expand production capacity from 440,000 barrels of oil per day to 660,000 barrels of oil per day. Production start for phase 2 of the field is expected in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The first phase of the development includes the development of four platforms, three subsea installations for water injection, power from shore, the export pipeline for oil and gas with production expected to start in November 2019.

It is worth reminding that Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company Navantia was awarded a contract by Aibel in late December 2018 for the construction of an HVDC substation module for the Johan Sverdrup field in Norway.

In other related news, Samsung Heavy completed the P1 processing platform for the Johan Sverdrup field development. The platform left the Samsung Heavy Industries’ yard in South Korea on board Boskalis Vanguard, the world’s largest heavy-transport vessel, last month.

Offshore Energy Today Staff