New contract with Vår Energi takes DeepOcean to Barents Sea and North Sea

Norway-based ocean services provider DeepOcean has expanded its several years of work for oil and gas company Vår Energi with a new contract set to be performed next year.

DeepOcean will perform a subsea campaign for Vår Energi in 2025 that includes inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) services at the Goliat and Balder fields, as well as additional light construction work to be completed within the same year.

The company will provide subsea engineering, project management support, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) services and access to its tool pool, with work to be carried out from the Olympic Ares subsea vessel.

The award is a call-off under an existing frame agreement between the parties.

The contract will be delivered out of DeepOcean’s office in Haugesund, supported by its offices in Stavanger and Bergen.

“We are excited to further strengthen our relationship with Vår Energi. Over the past years, the company has demonstrated an impressive ability to grow their resource base through new thinking and challenging the status quo. This mindset aligns with DeepOcean and we look forward to providing safe and efficient services in the years ahead,” said Øyvind Mikaelsen, CEO of DeepOcean.

The Balder field is located in the North Sea, in the first awarded license with the first exploration drilling and first oil discovery on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), production license 001. It is developed with a floating production unit (FPU) and several subsea production systems. Vår Energi is the operator and holds a 90% working interest in Balder. Production started in 1999.

Operated by Vår Energi (65%) with Equinor as a partner (35%), Goliat is located in the Barents Sea, approximately 80 kilometers northwest of Hammerfest. It is the first producing oil field in the northern areas of the NCS, discovered in 2000, with plans for development and operation approved in 2009.

Goliat is developed with a cylindrical floating production, storage, and offloading facility (FPSO) and eight subsea templates with a total of 32 well slots, which are tied back to the FPSO. Production started in 2016.

Vår Energi reported at the end of December 2022 that it had made – what it describes as – “the largest discovery of the year” in the Goliat area.

Speaking about other recent news coming from DeepOcean, the Norwegian company last month won a multi-year subsea assignment off the coast of the UK with a “large” operator on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). The job came a week after DeepOcean hired CRP Subsea to supply cable protection systems for RWE’s Nordseecluster A offshore wind project in the German part of the North Sea.