AMEC has won the front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract for development of the largest Southern North Sea gas discovery made in 30 years.
The arrangement with GDF Suez is worth £50million and includes the option to proceed into detailed design and procurement services for a four-platform development.
If this happens then the Cygnus gas development will be worth considerably more to the UK-headquartered international engineering and project management group. Work starts immediately, will be carried out in London and Aberdeen and is scheduled for completion in 2012. The contract will create about 150 new jobs at peak, mostly in the UK capital where the bulk of Amec’s engineering design capability is based.
Should the company continue into detailed design and procurement, then this appears certain to create further jobs in both centres.
Chief operating officer Neil Bruce told Energy: “As a contract win it is significant from a North Sea perspective, around 10-15% of that business in terms of workload. In terms of the order book it’s also a good chunk . . . a very nice one to win.”
As for where the work will be carried out, he said it would be in a mix of locations with accent on using the company’s most talented resources.
“The majority of our new development engineering is carried out in London anyway. But it’s where the customer wants it that matters.”
Regarding Aberdeen’s role in the Cygnus FEED, Mr Bruce added: “I think one of the things that our customers value is the fact that, besides our engineering and design skills, we have the experience to ensure that, when production facilities are installed and hooked-up, they actually work to the optimum. I think that bringing the Aberdeen hook-up, commissioning, brownfield operations and maintenance experience into the design is really valuable.”
Colleague John Pearson, MD of Amec’s Europe and West Africa business added: “Nearly four decades experience and proven delivery in the North Sea will help to deliver Cygnus which is not only a new field development, but GDF Suez’s first North Sea field.
“I am sure that the combination of the quality of our people and our extensive service offering has been key in winning this award.”
During the summer, there was speculation that the FEED contract bid had become a five-horse race, with Amec competing against CB&I, Technip, SNC Lavalin and IV Oil & Gas.
Technip was tipped to win as subsidiary Genesis Oil & Gas carried out pre-FEED work on Cygnus, plus it too is French.
Recoverable reserves of Cygnus are estimated to be up to 1trillion cu.ft.
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