Uchenna Izundu
OGJ International Editor
LONDON, July 1 -- The Norwegian parliament has given the go ahead for Eni Norge AS to develop Goliat field in the Barents Sea with a circular floating production platform.
Sevan Marine ASA has designed the Sevan 1000 floating production, storage, and offloading vessel and has signed an engineering contract and a technology license with Eni (OGJ Online, Apr. 24, 2009). Production from the field, which lies in 400 m of water, is scheduled to start in fourth quarter 2013.
“Use of the circular FPSO makes it possible to utilize electricity supplied from shore combined with a gas turbine for power and heat on the offshore facility. This will result in significantly lower levels of [carbon dioxide] emissions,” said Eni.
Meanwhile, a consortium led by Aker Solutions AS pulled out of competition for the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for the Goliat FPSO.
Aker Solutions said Eni Norge would not prequalify the group for the field development.
Aker and its partners, Aibel and Samsung Heavy Industries, had suggested a floating production platform with production capacities of 100,000 b/d and 3.9 million cu m/day gas and storage capacity of 950,000 bbl.
The Sevan Marine Services circular floating production platform design calls for those production capacities and 1 million bbl of oil storage.
The field, which holds reserves of 180 million boe, is the first oil development in its area. Environmentalists are worried about its impact.
Total Goliat investments are estimated at 28 billion kroner ($4.4 billion) in 2008 money.
Goliat field, on Blocks 7122/7,8,9,10 and 7123/7, was discovered in 2000.
Eni is operator of Goliat with a 65% stake. StatoilHydro holds 35%.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].