Norsk Hydro AS awarded a $109 million (US) contract Wednesday to Norway's Aker Maritime AS to build the drilling module for the Grane oil field platform in the North Sea.
Aker Maritime�s engineering work in Kristiansand, Norway, will start immediately. One hundred people from Maritime Hydraulics and Aker Stord will be involved in this project phase.
The drilling module will be built and assembled at Aker Stord in western Norway. The fabrication work will begin in May 2001. The company estimates the module will be mechanically completed on Dec. 15, 2002. A total of about 340 skilled laborers will be take part in the work.
The fully-tested and commissioned drilling module with derrick, weighing a total 5,500 tonnes, should be delivered to Hydro on May 1, 2003.
The Grane field, which is located some 185 km west of Stavanger, Norway, will be developed with an integrated accommodations, process, and drilling platform mounted on a steel jacket. Combined total investments are estimated at $1.63 billion.
Kværner Oil & Gas, a unit of Kværner AS, was awarded the contract to build the Grane production module, valued at $380 million (US), in May. The contract to build the steel jacket will be awarded shortly.
The Grane field, which has an estimated 700 million bbl of recoverable oil, is expected to reach a maximum output of 214,000 b/d in 2005. The oil will be transported by pipeline to a terminal northwest of Bergen, Norway.
Norsk Hydro's equity share in Grane is 24.4%. Field partners include Statoil with 6.4%, the state�s direct financial investment (SDFI) with 43.6% and ExxonMobil Corp. with 25.6%.