Prime Minister David Cameron is expected in Fife today to oversee the signing of a multimillion-pound contract that will create 200 jobs at a fabricating and engineering yard.
The chief executives of BiFab (Burntisland Fabrications) and UK-based Premier Oil will formalise a deal for the Fife company to build a new offshore platform for the £538million Solan development off the west coast of Shetland.
The Department of Energy gave Premier the go-ahead for Solan in April and it is targeting production from the field – estimated to have a recoverable resource of 40million barrels of oil – of 24,000 barrels of oil per day by late 2014.
BiFab – which operates two yards at Burntisland and Methil – will be responsible for procurement and fabrication of the platform’s topsides and jacket.
The installation works and a contract to provide a subsea storage tank for the new facility has already been awarded to Dutch firm Heerema.
The BiFab contract – which is expected to provide work for up to two years – is thought to be the first occasion in more than a decade in which an entire platform is to be built in Scotland. Premier has said previously its plan is to build a substantial business in the North Sea and said the Solan project would help boost its production in the region to 100,000 barrels per day.