Key work for Maersk Oil’s £3billion gas project in the UK North Sea has contributed to soaring first quarter profits at Japanese firm Modec.
The Tokyo-based supplier and operator of offshore floating platforms won the contract to build a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel for Culzean, about 145 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.
Modec later contracted out the work to Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine.
In results for the three months to March 31, Modec said pre-tax profits totalled £29.2million, which was more than double the figure reported for the first quarter of 2015.
Modec said the Culzean FSO work had “progressed on track”, with revenue from this and another major project helping to boost first quarter 2016 revenue to nearly £344million.
Maersk’s announced the deal with Modec last September, with the value undisclosed.
At the time, Modec president and chief executive Toshiro Miyazaki said the contract represented a significant milestone for the company in gaining entry into “the important North Sea oil and gas industry”.
The new FSO will have receiving capacity for up to 25,000 barrels of condensate a day and storage for up to 350,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe). It is due to be delivered to Maersk Oil UK during the first half of 2018.
Culzean has resources estimated at 250-300million boe and is expected to produce enough gas to meet 5% of total UK demand when it hits peak production in 2020/21. First gas is expected in 2019.