The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Positive news for giant North Sea project
Invitations to bidders for the project will go out later this year
US major Chevron is getting ready to launch a fresh tender for a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for its multbillion-pound Rosebank project in the UK North Sea.
Chevron said yesterday it was making progress on the front-end engineering and design (Feed) work, “including the re-tendering process for the FPSO”.
The firm, whose base for European upstream activities is in Aberdeen, said it would send out invitations to bidders for the project later this year.
Chevron, which is the operator for Rosebank, initially placed a £1.5billion order for the vessel with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea in 2013.
That contract was cancelled last December but plans are now afoot for a new tender.
Yesterday, a Chevron spokesman said: “We are advancing the Rosebank project through front-end engineering and design, including the re-tendering process for the FPSO.
“We expect to issue invitations to bid for the Rosebank FPSO work later this year.
“Chevron is working closely with the Rosebank joint-venture participants to further improve project value and decrease execution risk as we progress through Feed.”
Oil and Gas UK upstream policy director Mike Tholen said: “Rosebank is an exciting resource in the UK continental shelf (UKCS) that could open up a fresh area west of Shetland.
“The fact that Chevron continues to progress the project is proof that the UKCS has improved its competitiveness and that there are significant opportunities for the future.”
Rosebank, which was discovered in 2004, lies about 80miles north-west of Shetland and is thought to contain as much as 240million barrels of potentially recoverable oil equivalent.
It was the first project to benefit from a £3billion tax allowance for fields deeper than 3,280ft and with more than 180million barrels of reserves, announced in the March 2012 budget.
Three years ago, the development was expected to lead to the creation of 300 jobs out of Chevron’s Aberdeen base. Drilling was to start in 2015, with first production three years later.
In 2014, as tumbling oil prices threatened a string of major North Sea projects, Chevron's Rosebank development – reportedly worth about £6billion, was among those thought to have a shaky future.
Chevron holds a 40% stake in Rosebank, Suncor Energy has 30% and Siccar Point has 20%.
In May, petrochemicals giant Ineos announced a deal to buy Dong Energy’s entire oil and gas business, including a 10% stake in Rosebank, for £1billion.