Equinor has awarded a $290 million (£223m) contract to Odfjell Drilling for work on the 200-million-barrel Breidablikk field in the Norwegian North Sea.
Under the agreement, Odfjell’s Deepsea Aberdeen semi-submersible rig will drill 15 wells for the project, with the option to drill an additional nine wells once the first phase has been completed.
Drilling is due to get underway in the spring of 2022 and is expected to run for more than two years to until the autumn of 2024.
The contract is estimated to lead to create 200 man-years in Norway, with an additional 20-40 man-years in related support functions.
Last month, Equinor, on behalf of Petoro, Var Energi and ConocoPhillips, handed in a field development plan for Breidablikk to the Norwegian Government.
A number of lucrative contracts for the project have already been handed out, with Aker Solutions winning a £205m deal to deliver four subsea templates and up to 23 subsea trees and Wood winning a £65m agreement to install equipment on the Grane platform.
Total investment in the field is expected to be around NOK 18.6 billion (£1.5b).
Erik G. Kirkemo, senior vice president of drilling & well operations at Equinor, said: “We have had excellent cooperation with Odfjell over time, and they have consistently delivered wells safely and efficiently to us by use of the Deepsea Atlantic drilling rig.
“This time a sister rig with the same technical design will be used and we have high expectations to Deepsea Aberdeen as well.
“Through this agreement we are enhancing our cooperation with Odfjell based on our good experience with the company, and it will be exciting to develop this further.”
Equinor’s chief procurement officer, Peggy Krantz-Underland, said: “In this contract we have further developed the performance-based compensation system, enabling the supplier to increase their profit per well delivery by completing safe and efficient operations.
“We regard this as an important step towards reaching our ambition of shifting focus from rate per day to cost per well, a move we believe is important to ensure sustainable costs in the future.”