London�Conoco UK, the British exploration and production arm of Conoco Inc., and Halliburton Co. yesterday cemented a major services and support contract that ranks as one of the largest deals of its kind ever awarded in the UK oil and gas industry.
Won by the US contractor�s subsidiary Brown & Root Energy Services, the $225 million deal covers the provision of a wide range of services�including planning and support, engineering and construction, maintenance, materials management, and personnel�to Conoco�s southern North Sea natural gas businesses. The stated aim behind the 5-year contract, according to Conoco, is to �maximize asset availability� across all south North Sea gas installations onshore and off.
A Conoco spokesman likened the �important� deal to similar integrated service and support contracts at the oil company�s Britannia, Banff, and MacCulloch fields in the North Sea where the contractor and operator shared �the same goals, same aims, and [were] working toward the same ends.� He said the deal with Halliburton reinforces the southern North Sea as a �strategic part of [Conoco�s] core business� and is �another example of example of an operating company getting very close with a major contractor� through shared core values.
Commenting yesterday on the deal, Conoco�s UK general manager for production, Don Robertson, stated that the decision to bring together these �essential functions� into one contract reflects his company�s �commitment to the cost-effective maintenance of a natural gas business that is strategically important to both Conoco and the UK economy.�
The assets covered by the scope of the contract are the onshore Theddlethorpe Gas Terminal on the eastern UK coast, the Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS), and the Viking and Caister Murdoch System, along with a number of Conoco-operated fields in the southern North Sea including Vixen and Bell.