Aker Kvaerner Engineering News

Aker Kvaerner has been awarded two out of the 14 Spotlight on New Technology awards at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). The Spotlight on New Technology, first introduced last year, is a program that serves as a stage to highlight the most innovative and significant offshore developments during the year. "These recipients demonstrate the increasing technical edge that is required to explore and produce in ever-increasing water depths, and more remote and hostile environments. Aker Kvaerner Engineering and Technology in Oslo, Norway, has received an award for the technology design of the patented Stepped Diameter Tendon. The tendon…

BP has chosen Aker Kvaerner to perform the detail engineering, procurement and construction management assistance (EPcma) for the Skarv field development in the Norwegian Sea. Since November 2005, Aker Kvaerner has been involved with the project, performing the front end engineering design of the complete production ship (FPSO) and intermediate engineering of the topsides. The new EPcma contract covers detail engineering and procurement work for the 16.000 ton FPSO topsides as well as construction management assistance to BP. On peak, the project will engage over 400 people from Aker Kvaerner. The production start for the field is scheduled for August 2011. The Skarv oil and gas field was discovered in 1998, and it has taken close to 10 years to mature the field to its current stage.

Russian police came to the Aker Kvaerner Engineering & Technology representation office in Moscow to inquire about a complaint from a former Russian business partner regarding Aker Kvaerner Engineering & Technology's acquisition of 56 percent ownership in Astrakhan Korabel. The inquiry concerns Aker Kvaerner Engineering & Technology's acquisition of shares from the Finnish company RR Offshore Oy. There were 14 employees working in the office when the police started investigation, of them 11 Russian citizens and three Norwegians.

Statoil and Aker Kværner has signed the contract worth approximately NOK 8 billion for the semisubmersible platform to be located at the Gjøa field offshore Norway. This is in accordance with the memorandum of understanding presented in Aker Kvaerner's disclosure to the Oslo Stock Exhange at 29 September 2006. The scope of work to be performed by Aker Kvaerner will be detail design of topside and hull, procurement, construction and hook-up of topside, and mating of topside and hull. Detailed engineering will be headed from Aker Kvaerner's office in Oslo, and a significant part of the engineering hours will be carried out by Aker Kvaerner's engineering entity in Mumbai in India. In total, more than 500 Aker Kvaerner engineers will be mobilised to design the platform.

The Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation (UCCPTC), a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, has awarded Aker Kvaerner an engineering contract to assist in the development of process design packages and extended process design packages for two Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol (EO/EG) plants that will use the METEOR(TM) LEC EO/EG technology. The plants will be built in the People's Republic of China by subsidiaries of Sinopec under a license from UCCPTC. One project is at the Sinopec Tianjin one million tonne per annum (TPA) ethylene complex in the Dagang District of Tianjin, and the second is at Sinopec Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company's production facility in the port city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

Aker Arctic, which started operations as a new company in the beginning of 2005, has erected a modern new office and ice model test facility in the Vuosaari district of Helsinki. The premises were inaugurated today in the presence of Finland s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Mauri Pekkarinen. Speeches were also heard from President Yrjö Julin with the compliments of Aker Yards, and Mikko Niini, Managing Director of Aker Arctic. In addition to the ice laboratory and model testing activities Aker Arctic is offering its own portfolio of conceptual ship designs for various yards, ship owners and offshore operators interested in operations in ice-infested cold waters. Aker Yards is the majority share holder of Aker Arctic with 62.5 %.

Aker Kvaerner Offshore Partner, headquartered in Aberdeen, is to open a satellite office in Stockton-on-Tees, UK. The office will be responsible for a range of upstream oil and gas projects, and modification work. The office is located within the existing Aker Kvaerner premises at Ashmore House, Stockton-on-Tees and will be operational from January 2006. "In addition to servicing work arising from current and future clients, Aker Kvaerner intends to develop the office as a center of engineering excellence to execute cross-border work for our Norwegian sister companies and clients," said Richard Strachan, operations director with Aker Kvaerner Offshore Partner Ltd. Based in Stockton for more than 100 years, Aker Kvaerner has a long-standing commitment to the Teesside area.

Centrica has awarded Aker Kvaerner's Engineering Services a contract for the recertification of pressure safety valves for its operations based out of Morecambe Bay. The contract covers the offshore facilities, which consist of nine offshore platforms, two onshore gas processing terminals at Barrow (North Morecambe and South Morecambe terminals), and the Barrow Condensate Storage Facility. The contract is for a period of five years, with extension options of 2 one year periods. The Morecambe Field is an offshore, hydrocarbon gas reservoir divided into two sections (North and South). Gas is produced through offshore facilities, which are located approximately 25 miles west of Blackpool, Lancashire.

Chevron, with partner Kerr-McGee, has awarded Aker Kvaerner, Inc. the semisubmersible hull and mooring system contract for their Blind Faith project in the Gulf of Mexico. The contract has a total value of approximately $120 million. Aker Kvaerner's scope of work includes engineering, procurement, construction and transportation. The award is a recognition of the deepwater competence in Aker Kvaerner. The Blind Faith platform to be located in the Mississippi Canyon 650 block, approximately 162 miles southeast of New Orleans is part of the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico in 6,500 feet water depth. This contract award follows more than one year of concept studies…