By the OGJ Online Staff
LONDON, June 12 -- Corrib operator Enterprise Energy Ireland Ltd. Tuesday awarded three principal contracts valued at a total of 360 million euros for the onshore and offshore development of the gas field on Blocks 18/20 and 18/25 in the Slyne basin off Ireland.
Subsea equipment will be supplied by ABB Offshore Systems Ltd., installation carried out by Allseas Construction Contractors SA, and construction of the onshore gas terminal handled by ASI Corrib Joint Venture -- a joint venture between AMEC Capital Projects Ltd., SIAC Construction Ltd., and IIF Process Mechanical & Electrical Contractors.
ABB will be responsible for design, fabrication, and supply of the Corrib subsea facilities, all of which will be operated remotely from the onshore terminal. Allseas -- main subcontractors Stolt Offshore Ltd. and a consortium of Tideway Marine and Offshore Contractors, Pierse Contracting Ltd., and Bohlen & Doyen GMBH -- will design, fabricate, supply, and install the development's pipeline and umbilical system.
The ASI Corrib Joint Venture, meanwhile, is charged with the design, engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning of the onshore gas terminal, which remains subject to receipt of planning permission from Mayo County Council.
Corrib, discovered by the UK independent Enterprise Oil PLC in 1996 in over 1,100 ft of water, will be developed via a scheme involving seven subsea wells tied back to a central gathering manifold connected to an offshore pipeline, which will transport the gas to a onshore terminal and receiving facility.
The field, thought to hold some 25 billion cu m of gas, is expected on stream in 2003. Tests last year at Corrib, considered the first significant find off Ireland since Kinsale Head in 1973, showed flow rates of up to 60 MMcfd of gas.
Brian O'Cathain, managing director of Enterprise Energy Ireland, said the successful bids "contained significant Irish content."
The Corrib coventurers are Enterprise, operator, with 45%, Statoil Exploration (Ireland) Ltd. 36.5%, and Marathon International Petroleum Hibernia Ltd. 18.5%.
