The company behind a revolutionary new system which could resurrect the uneconomic Fyne oil field has struck a deal to develop a new offshore platform.
ABT Oil and Gas, a joint venture between North Sea operator Enegi and ABT Technology, is to work exclusively with Reading-based engineers GMC on commercial uses of their new self-installing offshore platform.
The move follows on from the company’s development of an unmanned buoy system developed for the 10million barrel Fyne field, which houses production and processing equipment before oil is offloaded to a tanker.
The GMC platform is designed to operate unattended while producing oil and gas, and was originally designed for use off Peru.
See the buoyant tower in action below
https://vimeo.com/50669152
The platform can be modified with different topsides or equipment and, like ABT’s buoy, can be used unmanned in harsh conditions to help reduce costs on marginal oil fields.
“After conclusion of the agreement between ABT and GMC, ABTOG now exclusively possesses a second solution which may be used to develop smaller oil and gas assets, and has expanded the operating envelope for its solutions,” the company said.
The deal comes as ABTOG announces a new management team, with former Heritage Oil vice president Stephen Baird joining as chief executive.
Baird, who was previously chairman and chief executive of Sea Dragon Offshore, will manage the everyday running of the company.
“Along with ABT, after considering the size of the opportunity and the interest that we have had from the market, we decided that ABTOG should develop it’s own management team to prevent its growth from being checked,” said Enegi chief executive Alan Minty.
“We are delighted to have attracted someone of Stephen’s expertise. We believe that his experience of both the inner workings of oil and gas companies and the construction of large scale assets mean that he is ideally suited to the role.”