Subsea 7 and Aibel score Northern Lights contracts

Subsea 7 and Aibel have secured contracts from Equinor for the Northern Lights project.

Subsea 7’s scope includes engineering, fabrication and installation of a 100 kilometres CO2 pipeline that will run from Øygarden to the CO2 storage complex, as well as installation of umbilicals, tie-in and pre-commissioning activities.

Project management and engineering will commence immediately at Subsea 7’s offices in Stavanger, Norway. Fabrication of the pipelines will take place at Subsea 7’s spoolbase at Vigra, Norway. Finally, offshore operations will be executed in 2022 and 2023.

The Northern Lights project is part of the Norwegian full-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) project “Langskip” (Longship).

The Northern Lights project comprises transportation, receipt and also permanent CO2 storage in a reservoir in the northern North Sea. The CO2 receiving terminal will be located in the municipality of Øygarden in Western Norway.

According to Equinor, the contract has a value of approximately $58 million, or NOK 500 million

John Evans, chief executive officer Subsea 7, said: “CCS is an important part of Subsea 7’s strategy to be a proactive participant in the energy transition and our continued drive for a more sustainable future.”

Monica Bjørkmann, vice president for Subsea 7 Norway, also said: “The Northern Lights project marks the start of a new value chain for lowering carbon emissions from Norway as well as Europe. We look forward to supporting Equinor and its partners in successfully delivering this pioneering project.”

Aibel has won an EPCI contract for the Northern Lights subsea control system located on the Oseberg A platform. The contract is also a call-off against the existing Oseberg portfolio agreement signed in July 2020. The estimated value of the assignment is about $16 million, or NOK 140 million.

The scope of work includes all necessary upgrades on the Oseberg A platform to pull in and operate the umbilical system that will connect the platform and the Northern Lights subsea facilities.

Project management and engineering will be performed at Aibel’s offices in Bergen and Stavanger, and prefabrication will take place at the Haugesund yard. Specifically, the project will contribute with about 60 man-years for Aibel. The work will start in January 2021 and should wrap up in late 2023.