Around 100 jobs at a pipeline manufacturing plant in the Highlands have been secured after Subsea 7 picked up a £63million contract with BP.
Subsea 7, with UK headquarters at Westhill, is to build two pipelines for BP’s £4.5billion Clair Ridge development west of Shetland.
One of them will be constructed at Subsea 7’s Wester facility near Wick in Caithness.
Steph McNeill, Subsea 7’s vice president, UK, said today: “We are pleased to be awarded this major pipeline project by BP, which builds upon our unique bundle technology.
“Fabrication will take place at our Wick facility, which has a proven track record of successful bundle design, fabrication and installation, securing work for approximately 100 people.”
UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry said: “I welcome this new contract as further evidence of the UK’s engineering and subsea capability.”
The Clair Ridge development will see two new, bridge-linked platforms built and installed to the north-east of the older Clair Phase 1 development.
Subsea 7’s contract includes the project management, engineering, procurement, fabrication and installation of a 3.7mile, 22inch oil export pipeline bundle and a 8.6mile, 6inch gas export pipeline, which will be connected to the new production facilities and the existing Clair Phase 1 export systems.
Engineering and project management will start at the firm’s Westhill office in early 2012, with offshore operations due to start in 2013.
The new pipeline systems will allow oil to be transported from Clair Ridge to the Sullom Voe Terminal by connecting it to the existing Clair oil pipeline.
Gas from the field will be transported from the new platform to the existing West Of Shetland Gas Pipeline, where it will then mix with gas from other fields and transported to the EOSPS (East Of Shetland Pipeline System) and Sirge (Shetland Island Regional Gas Export System) systems.
The 22inch oil export pipeline bundle will be fabricated at Subsea 7’s Wester site facility in Wick. Pipelines are built here along a five mile track stretching from the beach inland.
Employing 50-250 people at any one time, it is thought to be one of the longest fabrication sites in the world.
The 6inch gas export pipeline will be fabricated at Subsea 7’s Vigra spoolbase on the north west coast of Norway.
Subsea 7’s contract will also include tie-ins of integrated subsea towhead structures, field testing and pre-commissioning activities.
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