Maersk Oil hires Subsea 7 for Culzean field

Following Monday’s final nod for the Maersk Oil-operated Culzean field in the North Sea, the Danish firm has started awarding contracts for the development.

After awarding Singapore’s Sembmarine a $1 billion contract to build offshore facilities for this high-pressure, high-temperature gas field, the Danish company doesn’t stop at that.

Namely, Subsea 7 has on Tuesday revealed it won the award of a subsea, umbilical, riser and flowline (SURF) contract by Maersk Oil with a
value in excess of $150 million for the Culzean development.

The Culzean, one of the largest gas discoveries offshore UK, is located in Block 22/25 of the Central North Sea at a water depth of approximately 90 metres.

The contract scope includes project management, engineering, procurement, construction and installation of a 22” diameter 52 km gas export pipeline connected to the Central Area Transmission System (CATS), and a 3.6 km pipe-in-pipe (10″ outer pipe and 6” inner pipe) providing insulation for the transportation of the condensate to the in-field Floating, Storage and Offloading facility (FSO).

The pipe-in-pipe will be laid with a 4” piggy-back line that will transport fuel gas to the FSO. Subsea 7 will also provide subsea structures, tie-ins to the Culzean platform facilities and pre-commissioning expertise.

Project management and engineering work will start immediately from Subsea 7’s Aberdeen office. Offshore activities will utilise a number of Subsea 7 vessels including the highly versatile pipelay and heavy-lift vessel, Seven Borealis. Offshore operations are scheduled to kick off in 2017.

Phil Simons, Vice President UK and Canada, said: “This large project awarded by Maersk Oil for their Culzean field development, confirms our reputation as a world-class provider of reliable and costeffective SURF solutions. The Seven Borealis has the ability to deliver fit-for- purpose performance demonstrating the optimum balance of cost-efficiency and capability. We look forward to collaborating with Maersk to ensure the safe and timely delivery of this significant gas production development.”

It has been reported that, as part of the Culzean development, £3 billion is to be invested in the North Sea and its supply chain, supporting up to 6,000 UK jobs and creating more than 400.