Eni Delays Goliat Production Start-Up. Costs Reach $6.2 Bln (Norway)

By agreement with the partners in the Goliat licence, and due to the delay in the delivery of the production platform, Eni Norge has decided to postpone production start-up at the Goliat field until the third quarter of 2014.

The Goliat field development is based on large turnkey contracts (EPC) for the supply of subsea production systems, flowlines and risers, production facility, power cable to shore, modification of the power grid in the Hammerfest area and a state of the art offshore production facility, including the use of innovative technologies.

When the Plan for development and operation (PDO) was submitted, the estimated start-up of the Goliat field was set to Q4 2013.

Most key project areas are progressing as planned. However, the development of the production facility has met challenges and increased complexity. These are mainly associated with technological innovations of the production facility.

Based on agreement in the Goliat licence the scheduled departure from the Hyundai Heavy Industries’ yard is postponed to end 2013/Q1 2014.

The progress of the other main activities for the development of Goliat will be maintained despite the delay of the production facility.

The expected cost increase, due to the postponing of the production start-up, is estimated to ca 2,5 billion NOK ($421.7 million) as a result of the delay.

Eni Norge has previously informed the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy of an increase of investment cost of ca 3,7 billion NOK. This is mainly linked to an increase in marked prices, longer delivery time for several equipment packages and increased process for raw materials due to heavy pressure in the supplier industry.

The investment cost for the Goliat development is now estimated to ca 36,7 billion NOK ($6.2 billion). The original development cost was estimated to 30,5 billion 2012 NOK  ($5.06 billion).

Facts

Goliat will be the first oil field to come into production in the Barents Sea. Eni Norge is the operator of the field (65 %) with Statoil as its partner (35 %). According to plan, Goliat will produce 170 million barrels of oil over a period of 15 years.

Eni Norge is part of Eni, an Italian integrated energy company with operations in more than 80 countries.

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Press Release, August 10, 2012