Statoil’s UK managing director has revealed up 700 new North Sea jobs will be created in the operational phase of its flagship Mariner project.
Hedda Felin revealed the jobs boost for the North Sea oil and gas industry as she made her first public appearance in her new role for the Norwegian operator.
She was joined yesterday by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Oil & Gas UK boss Deirdre Michie at the opening of the company’s new building in Aberdeen’s Prime Four premises.
The company also revealed it would be working on three exploration wells over the coming year at Mariner as well as two others in the North Sea.
Speaking exclusively to Energy Voice, Felin said: “There will be even more opportunities coming through the Mariner project, when we have the operational phase.
“There will be about 200 onshore and 500 offshore so it’s a significant recruitment boost that we will see in the coming years.”
The jobs boost comes after Statoil said it was planning an initial recruitment drive for up to 40 roles this Autumn.
Felin said next year will be “busy” for the company as topsides arrive for the Mariner A platform on site in the North Sea.
Earlier this month the first flight of offshore workers was made to the Mariner B FSU.
The development of the Mariner field is expected to contribute to more than 250million barrels of reserves with an average plateau production of around 55,000 barrels per day.
Production is expected to commence in 2018.
Felin said she was in a “fortunate” position with her new role as managing director and had picked the “perfect time” to takeover in her new leadership role.
She said:”I think I’m in a very fortunate position because I’m part of a growing organisation and part of building a new project so I think it’s the perfect time.
“It’s a challenging time for the industry as a whole so I think the most important challenges will be to continue to cut down the costs and to maintain the costs as low as possible even if the oil price goes up again, so I think that’s the challenge for us and that’s the challenge for the industry.
“We have an ambition to drill three wells so I think what’s most important is the signal that we still believe there are discoveries to be made in the North Sea both in the UK and the Norwegian side and that’s a great commitment.
“It’s going to be an exciting year next year.”
The Mariner field was discovered in 1981 but it wasn’t until 2007 that Statoil entered the license as operator in a bid to unlock its resources.
The Norwegian oil giant was given the go-ahead for production in 2012.
Mariner is just one example long-term strategy. The firm took30 years to crack the North Sea Utgard field. Read more here.
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