Siemens in Njord A award
Thursday 8 September 2016
Siemens has secured a contract with Statoil to upgrade the control and safety systems for the Njord A platform as part of a major overhaul of the facility.
The Nkr63 million ($7.7 million) award is part of a framework agreement worth a total of Nkr150 million for engineering, procurement and construction work on the unit that is being upgraded at Kvaerner’s Stord yard in Norway.
The contract with Siemens will employ between 25 and 30 engineers, with work to be carried out mainly at its Bergen base, as well as at locations in Oslo, Trondheim and Stavanger.
Statoil has decided to refurbish the structurally deficient platform, rather than replace it with a newbuild, as part of the Njord Future redevelopment project to prolong the life of the veteran field.
It follows the halt of production from both the Njord and associated Hyme fields in the Norwegian Sea earlier this summer, with planned restart in 2019.
Siemens is now angling for similar system upgrade jobs on ageing North Sea platforms as operators seek to improve field efficiency to boost output amid low oil prices.
“There are many platforms in the North Sea in need of upgrading. Given current low oil prices, it is sensible to equip them now for more efficient operations,” sales director Baard Berle said in a statement.