Energy giant Statoil said yesterday it had signed another multimillion-pound deal for its huge Mariner project.
The Norwegian operator said drilling contractor Noble had won a £428million contract to provide a new jackup rig for the £4.7billion find.
Noble said it was in the final stages of negotiating a deal to build the rig, which is expected to cost the firm £451million and will start a four-year drilling programme in summer 2016.
Mariner, 80 miles south-east of Shetland, is thought to hold up to 400million barrels of oil.
It is unclear what the job implications for Noble will be following the deal, but the contractor said it was delighted to expand its operations in the UK North Sea. According to Statoil, Noble has four rigs in UK waters at the moment.
Noble chief executive David Williams said: “This unit (rig) is designed to meet some of the industry’s most stringent operating requirements and supports Noble’s ongoing commitment to increasing the technological and operational capabilities of our fleet.”
Jon Arnt Jacobsen, Statoil’s chief procurement officer, said the Noble contract would give the operator a tailor-made rig designed specifically for the Mariner project.
Mariner is just one of the developments the Norwegian firm has planned east of Shetland; Statoil is also working on sister field Bressay. If both go ahead, the operator plans to employ up to 1,000 people out of Aberdeen.
Morten Ruud, Statoil’s vice-president for western Europe, said yesterday: “Mariner is the largest new offshore development in the UK in more than a decade. It will generate jobs and substantial ripple effects for UK and the wider Aberdeen region.”
Last month Statoil signed a £160million, four-year contract with Odfjell Drilling for the company to provide engineering and commissioning services during the start-up phase of the Mariner production platform, which will be used alongside a floating storage unit.
Odfjell said the work would be carried out from its Aberdeen office.
Statoil aims to hit first oil at Mariner in 2017, while it expects to sanction Bressay before the end of 2013.
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