Aker Solutions, Kvaerner JV awarded Johan Sverdrup letter of intent

Aker Solutions and Kvaerner have secured a letter of intent for modifications of the riser platform and field centre for the second phase of the Statoil-operated Johan Sverdrup development in the North Sea off Norway.

The NOK3.4 billion (US$440 million) contract will be split equally between the two, which formed a joint venture to carry out the work.

The work includes engineering, procurement, construction and installation of a utility module for the platform that will lift production of the field to 660,000 barrels of oil equivalents a day, starting in 2022.

It also entails modifications of the field centre and integration of a second processing platform to the centre.

Aker Solutions Chief Executive Officer Luis Araujo said the work would start this quarter and be completed in 2022.

The 5,000-metric-tonne module will be built at Kvaerner’s yard in Stord.

Aker Solutions has completed front-end engineering and design (FEED) for phase two, including for the module and work to integrate this with the riser platform.

Norway’s largest oil find in more than three decades, Johan Sverdrup is estimated to hold 2.1 billion to 3.1 billion barrels of oil equivalents.

Production is expected to start in late 2019 and is predicted to last for 50 years.

Aibel was chosen to construct the processing platform topside in a NOK8 billion deal.

The contracts are subject to Norwegian government approval.