Statoil sees economic spinoffs from offshore field development

Feb. 13 (UPI) — A $480 million contract awarded for components that will be used to tap a Barents Sea oil field will create industry spinoffs, Norway’s Statoil said.

The Norwegian major said Tuesday it awarded engineering and construction services company Kværner a contract to help build the topside components of the floating production storage and offloading vessel that will be used at the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.

“The Johan Castberg development will generate substantial spinoffs for Norwegian supply industry in the years ahead,” Statoil’s chief procurement officer, Pål Eitrheim, said in a statement. “The field is also essential to the further development of industry in Northern Norway, and we are pleased that this contract will help increase activities in the north.”

Construction of the FPSO will take three years. Development work will take place at the several shipyards scattered along the Norwegian coast.

Statoil has concentrated its development focus in the Norwegian market. Contracts worth more than $5.7 billion have been awarded for the larger Johan Sverdrup project so far and most of those have gone to companies in Norway. Assembly of one of the four platforms for Johan Sverdrup development is already underway at a port in Norway.

Statoil has $6.2 billion set aside for the development of Johan Castberg and around 47,000 man-hours of work will be created for the Norwegian economy.

For the fourth quarter, the federal government said activity in the petroleum sector declined 4.7 percent, contributing to a 0.3 percent decline in quarterly gross domestic product. Mainland GDP growth for Norway was 1.8 percent last year, compared with a 1 percent increase the previous year.

Johan Castberg should enter production in 2022. It has recoverable reserves in the range of 450 million to 650 million barrels of oil equivalent and could produce for more than 30 years.

“Johan Castberg will create considerable activities for Norwegian supply companies and generate ripple effects in Northern Norway,” the company stated.