Norwegian oil giant Statoil has awarded the management contract for the floating storage unit (FSU) for its £4billion-plus Mariner project in the UK North Sea to offshore service firm OSM Offshore Aberdeen.
The value of the contract, which starts on February 1 and will last for five years, with three further option periods of two years each, was undisclosed.
However, industry sources said it was a “significant”.
It covers all operations, maintenance and marine crew services to the FSUm, which is currently under construction at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje yard in South Korea.
It will be permanently anchored about 1.5 miles from the Mariner platform, tasked with receiving, storing and offloading crude oil as well as supplying thinner to the production process.
Norwegian-owned OSM Offshore Aberdeen will support Statoil during the fabrication of the vessel as well as its transportation to the field and then hook-up and commissioning.
Johan Johansen, vice president for operations on Mariner, said: “We saw a considerable interest for this contract from a broad range of qualified bidders.”
OSM Offshore, based near Kristiansand in Norway, is currently in the process of building up its Aberdeen operation.
It has a long track record in the UK, having operated several flotels here from 1980 to early 2000s.
The Mariner field, about 93 miles east of Shetland, is under development by operator and 65.11% stakeholder Statoil and partners JX Nippon (28.89%) and Dyas (6%).
Drilling is planned to start in 2016, with production start-up following in 2017.
It is the largest field development in the UK North Sea in more than a decade and is expected to be in production for at least 30 years.
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