Equinor eyes contractors for Northern Lights HDD works

Norwegian energy giant Equinor has invited contractors to show interest for a pre-qualification process related to the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) works for the landfall of CO2 pipeline as part of the Northern Lights project.

The works will cover the engineering, procurement and construction of HDD tunnel for the pipeline landfall at the plant for import and storage of CO2 at the industrial area in the municipality of Øygarden in Western Norway.

The objective is to provide a transport solution for the CO2 gas from Kollsnes to the Oseberg Field. The purpose of the HDD drilled landfall tunnel at Kollsnes is to make it possible to pull in the pipeline from the pipelay barge to the construction site inside the Kollsnes plant.

The value of the contract has been estimated at NOK 80 million (€7.4 million), according to the tender announcement on TED (Tenders Electronic Daily), a platform dedicated to European public procurement.

The contract will be signed by Equinor on behalf of the Northern Lights Project partnership, which includes other oil and gas majors Total and Shell.

The Northern Lights projects is part of the Norwegian full-scale carbon capture and storage project Longship, or Langskip in Norwegian, which has been described as “the greatest climate project in Norwegian industry ever”.

The Northern Lights project comprises ship transport of liquefied CO2 from the industrial capture sites, an onshore plant for receipt and temporary storage of liquefied CO2 from ships, export of CO2 through an offshore pipeline, and injection and permanent storage in a reservoir under the seabed on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

The plant is designed to store 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, consisting of storage tanks for intermediate storage, an import quay, unloading equipment, injection pumps and equipment, in addition to administration buildings.

Potential tenderers should note that the project may later be assigned to a new company which will be established by the Northern Lights Project partners, and consequently, Equinor retains the right to assign the contract to a third-party.

Deadline for receipt of qualification applications from interested parties has been set for 10 December, 2020, while the invitation to tender has been scheduled for 25 January, 2021.

According to the tender announcement, contract signing is expected to be completed by July 2021, with the completion of work planned for the fourth quarter of 2022.

As reported earlier, Equinor signed a contract with Skanska in October, 2020, for building site preparation and the construction of jetty facilities for the CO2 receiving terminal as part of the Northern Lights project.

Worth about NOK 380 million ($40.9M), the contract with Skanska includes the establishment of a site, road and infrastructure for the terminal and the construction of an administration building, in addition to warehouse and workshop buildings.