Shell prolongs Aker Solutions’ work on natural gas facility serving Norwegian Sea field

Norwegian offshore engineering contractor Aker Solutions has secured a long-term contract extension with Shell to provide brownfield modification services and maintenance support for a natural gas processing plant in Norway.

According to Aker Solutions, Shell, as a technical service provider to Gassco, has executed a seizable contract extension option to extend a framework agreement for the maintenance and modification services on the onshore Nyhamna natural gas processing plant in Aukra for another four years, or until September 2028. The company defines a sizeable contract as being between NOK 0.5 billion (over $46.4 million) and NOK 1.5 billion (more than $139.3 million).

Paal Eikeseth, executive vice president and head of Life Cycle, Aker Solutions, commented: “This contract will be included in our already strong backlog built on long-term customer relations. We’re pleased that Shell is giving us renewed trust to be its main contractor on this significant facility, and look forward to continuing the successful collaboration.”

This plant serves the Ormen Lange field and is connected to the Polarled pipeline in the Norwegian Sea. Aker Solutions has been delivering projects and providing services to the Nyhamna facility since 2007. The gas first arrives onshore before it is transported to the UK.

Back in September 2021, Shell submitted its plan for development and operation (PDO) for the Ormen Lange wet gas subsea compression project to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. This was approved in July 2022 and is expected to unlock an additional 30-50 billion cubic meters of natural gas, leading to an increase in Ormen Lange’s overall gas recovery rate.

Located 120 kilometers (75 miles) off the coast of Norway, the deepwater Ormen Lange field produces gas, which meets around 20% of the UK’s gas needs. It was discovered in 1997 while the original plan for development and operation was approved in 2004. The field was put into production in 2007.

The Ormen Lange field operates without a platform and includes 19 wells divided between four templates on the seafloor while two 30-inch pipelines transport the gas to the Nyhamna terminal for processing, where it is separated into natural gas and condensate for export prior to being exported via Sleipner to Easington.

Shell is the operator of the project with 17.81% interest while its partners are Petoro (36.48%), Equinor (25.34%), PGNiG Upstream Norway (14.02%), and Vår Energi (6.33%).