Oil service firm Aker Solutions said yesterday it had won a £30million-plus contract to work on Premier Oil’s Solan field.
The £538million project, 99 miles west of Shetland, is to become the first development in more than a decade to use a Scottish-fabricated production platform.
The fixed topsides and jacket of the structure are being built by Fife-based Burntisland Fabrications.
Part of Aker’s three-year deal will include tying back two subsea production and two injection wells to the platform.
The installation, which will not be manned permanently, is expected to produce 40million barrels of oil at an initial rate of 24,000 barrels per day, with first oil due in the fourth quarter of next year. Premier has a 60% stake in the project and Chrysaor the remaining 40%.
Mike Forbes, UK managing director of Aker Solutions’ maintenance, modifica-tions and operations (MMO) business, said: “I am pleased that we are continuing to develop our relationship with Premier Oil and their joint-venture partner on this significant project in a challenging and increasingly important sector of the North Sea.
“Having worked with Premier Oil and Chrysaor on the project since 2010, and having played a supporting role in the sanction of this development and the technology behind it, we look forward to embarking on the next stage of Solan’s evolution.”
Aker’s operations base in Aberdeen, which employs about 2,700 people, will be managing the contract work. The firm is now recruiting 30 permanent staff for the project, which would be among some of the 500 new jobs announced by the company last year. The Solan deal includes two one-year extension options.
The Norwegian Aker Solutions group employs about 28,000 people in more than 30 countries, with about 3,200 staff in London and Aberdeen.
Petrofac said yesterday its Emirates joint venture with Mubadala Petroleum had won a £2.4billion contract for the Upper Zakum field development in Abu Dhabi.
Numis Securities analyst Sanjeev Bahl said the win was worth about £940million net to Petrofac.
The deal follows the oil and gas services provider’s announcement earlier this month of a £330million award for offshore work in the emirate.