The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Boost as Baker Hughes lands Mariner contract
Development: Eight-year deal believed to be worth tens of millions
Oil and gas giant Statoil announced the award of another major contract for its £4.5billion-plus Mariner North Sea development yesterday.
The Norwegian firm said the UK arm of US energy services company Baker Hughes, which has a substantial presence in the north-east, was to design and supply production chemicals and services in an eight-year deal.
Neither Statoil nor Baker Hughes has disclosed a value but the contract, which has a four-year extension option, is believed to be worth tens of millions of pounds.
It is the latest big step in development plans for the Mariner field, which lies 93 miles east of Shetland.
Earlier this week, Statoil announced the start of pipe-laying work. About 25 miles of pipelines for gas, oil and diluting agent are being installed on the seabed by pipe-lay vessel Seven Navica.
Other contracts awarded by Statoil in recent months include one for Aberdeen firm Sentinel Marine to supply a new emergency response and rescue ship.
Another Granite City company, oil and gas logistics group Asco, secured key supply base and warehousing work.
The five-year management contract, with three extension option periods of two years each, for a floating storage unit went to offshore service firm OSM Offshore Aberdeen.
Late last year, Aker Solutions secured a £120million contract to provide engineering, construction and commissioning services during the heavy oil development’s hook- up phase. Aker Solutions and Stork Technical Services had previously secured five-year deals, with extension options, for work worth more than £100million.
Statoil, whose UK North Sea operation will be run from new regional headquarters at the Prime Four business park in Aberdeen from next year, said yesterday it was on track for first oil from Mariner in 2017.
The partners in the project alongside Statoil, which is operator and 65.11% stakeholder, are JX Nippon (28.89%) and Dyas (6%).
It is the largest field development in Theuknorth Sea in more than a decade and expected to be in production for at least 30 years.
The development is expected to contribute more than 250million barrels of reserves, with average peak production of around 55,000 barrels a day.
Sentinel Marine has celebrated the latestaddition to its growing fleet of offshore support vessels, naming the ship Cygnus Sentinel at a christening event in its home city of Aberdeen.
It is the second of four emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV) that Sentinel is taking delivery of as part of a £28million funding package from Clydesdale Bank and Germany’s Norddeutsche Landesbank.
The 200ft-long Cygnus Sentinel is starting a fiveyear contract serving Gaz DeFrance operations in the southern sector of the UK North Sea.
Sentinel Marine was launched in 2011 but has its roots in another company, Nomis Shipping, founded by Rory Deans and his father, Frank, in 1989.
Rory Deans is now chief executive of Sentinel Marine, which operates five vessels and has another seven on order.
The firm employs 120 seafarers and 14 head office staff, and plans to grow the workforce as it takes delivery of newships during the next 18 months. Its modern, fuel-efficient vessels are all multi-role, meaning they cannotonly operateas ERRVs but also carry out platform supply roles.
The latest boat has a gross weight of 1,890 tonnes and cargo capacity of 1,400 tonnes. It will operate with a crewof 12 who will work on a roster of 28 days on, 28 days off.
RoryDeans said: “It is always a proud moment whenwesee one of our vessels heading out on a new project. The sector we operate in is a niche one but we firmly believe our new vessels, like the Cygnus Sentinel, are bringing a range of benefits and savings to our clients.”
Clydesdale Bank’s involvement was led by Sheila McIntyre, senior director of the specialist and acquisition finance team in its Aberdeen business and private banking centre.
She said: “In a short space of time Sentinel Marine has become an important supplier to the UK’s oil and gas sector, and we’re pleased to have supported that success and the comp an y ’ s continuing growth.”