Johan Castberg News

Esgian reports that new drilling contracts have been announced in the North Sea and West Africa in its Week 17 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsShelf Drilling (North Sea) has secured a letter of award with an unnamed operator, believed to be TotalEnergies, for the 400-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Fortress for a campaign in the North Sea.Noble 12,000-ft 7th generation drillship Noble Venturer has secured new contracts in West Africa with Trident Energy and Rhino Resources…

Equinor's Johan Castberg floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel suffered only minor damage during a fire on Wednesday, and the project's timeline will not be affected, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.The vessel is under construction at a shipyard in western Norway. Workers were evacuated during the fire, and there were no reports of injuries. "With the exception of a small area, which is still closed-off, work on the project continues as normal," Equinor…

A fire broke out on Wednesday aboard oil major Equinor's Johan Castberg floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is under construction at a shipyard in Norway, public broadcaster NRK reported.Workers were evacuated and there were no reports of injuries, according to the report.The Arctic Johan Castberg oilfield is scheduled to come onstream in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Norwegian government said last year.Equinor was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters.(Reuters - Reporting by Terje Solsvik, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Offshore services company Havfram announced it has been awarded a contract from MODEC Offshore Production Systems (Singapore) Pte Ltd. (MODEC) for the pre-installation of the subsea mooring system for a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) in 2022.MODEC’s parent company, MODEC, Inc., will supply this facility to Woodside, for deployment in Senegal as part of the Sangomar Field Development Phase 1 project. This phase will target approximately 230 million barrels of…

The Johan Castberg FPSO arrived in Norway on Friday onboard the world’s largest transport vessel Boka Vanguard owned by Boskalis.The vessel reached Norway after a long journey from Singapore, where it was built by Sembcorp Marine. The vessel departed Singapore in mid-February.Upon final completion at Aker Solutions' yard in Stord, the FPSO will be deployed at the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, about 240km from Hammerfest, Norway. The FPSO hull is built to be self-contained for harsh-environment operation…

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine has delivered the Norwegian Barents Sea-bound Johan Castberg FPSO to Equinor. The FPSO has set off for Norway, loaded aboard Boskalis' Boka Vanguard semi-submersible heavy transportation vessel.Johan Castberg is Sembcorp Marine’s first EPC newbuild FPSO. Sembcorp Marine’s scope of work for the Johan Castberg FPSO vessel comprised the construction of the hull and living quarters.Upon final completion in Norway, the FPSO is scheduled for deployment at the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea, about 240km from Hammerfest, Norway.

Norwegian offshore services company Havfram, previously known as Ocean Installer, has won a contract with Technip Energies in Africa.The contract is for the pre-installation and subsequent hook-up of the subsea mooring system for a natural gas FPSO to be deployed at the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal.Technip Energies in 2019 won a contract from BP for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC)…

Norwegian oil and gas giant Equinor last year said that the delivery of an FPSO, being built for the Johan Castberg field development in the Barents Sea, would be delayed after the company discovered issues with the weld quality of the hull of the FPSO under construction in Singapore.In an update on Monday, Equinor said that, following the initial findings, an in-house investigation team from Equinor had studied the deviation in quality of welding and inspection of the Johan Castberg FPSO…

Delivery of the FPSO destined for Equinor's Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea is expected to be delayed after the company found issues with the weld quality and fatigue calculations program.The FPSO hull was ordered by Equinor (then known as Statoil) back in 2017 from Singapore's Sembcorp Marine and it was at the time said that the construction of the hull was "the most time-critical delivery for the completion of the Johan Castberg project," first production from which…

Norwegian offshore vessel contractor Island Offshore has shared photos of what it says is one of the most comprehensive anchoring projects globally in 2020 - the installation of an anchor system for Equinor's Johan Castberg project in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway."An anchor system of enormous dimensions is currently being deployed at the oilfield, and Island Victory [installation vessel] is chartered for the job. This is one of the most comprehensive anchoring projects globally in 2020…

Dutch company SBM Offshore has announced the sailaway of the last two modules for the Turret Mooring System built for Equinor's Johan Castberg FPSO which will, once completed, be deployed in the Barents Sea, offshore Norway.The modules will be shipped to Singapore aboard a heavy-transportation vessel. Once in Singapore, the modules will be integrated into the hull of Equinor’s Johan Castberg FPSO. Commenting on the completion of the construction phase of the turret mooring system…

Russian and Norwegian exploration and production (E&P) operators have been expanding their operations in the Arctic continental shelf, which is estimated to hold vast deposits of hydrocarbons and rare earth minerals.Warming temperatures in the Barents Sea and northern coastline of Russia are giving an added impetus to resource development in this region, according to GlobalData.GlobalData's report, ‘Arctic Exploitation’, discusses how Russia is keen on hydrocarbon appraisal and development from the Arctic region to such a great extent that it even settled its longstanding territorial dispute with Norway.The government is also providing tax incentives to companies that invest in this region.

With the global offshore decommissioning industry expected to reach $36bn over the next 3 years, several hundred offshore oil and gas wells could cease production by 2021 in the face of today’s bearish oil market.As a consequence, so-called decommissioning obligations in the global oil and gas industry rose to $11.7 billion last year and are projected to hold steady at an average of about $12 billion per year from 2019 through 2021, according to Rystad Energy.“2018 was an all-time high, and the next years are set to break this record,” said Rystad Energy partner Audun Martinsen. “To put this into context, the global oil and gas industry…

Aker Solutions reports Q4 2018 revenue of $813 million, an 8% rise compared to Q4 2017 powered by “significant international awards in a competitive, but improving market.” In total, order intake for the quarter was $615.6 million, leaving the company with an order backlog of more than $4 billion. Better still, looking forward the company sees “continued signs of a recovery in the global market” with approximately $5.2 billion worth of contracts currently in the bid phase.In analyzing the results…

Norwegian subsea contractor Ocean Installer and Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor ASA have signed a contract that covers the floating production storage and offloading unit (FPSO) mooring installation, tow out and hook-up of the Johan Castberg FPSO in the Barents Sea.Johan Castberg is one of the largest subsea field developments on the Norwegian continental shelf. The project includes Skrugard, Havis and Drivis, which lies about 240 kilometers from Hammerfest and about 100 kilometers north of Snøhvit.The water depth is between 360 and 405 meters. Ocean Installer’s new scope is extensive and will be carried out in combination…

The Norwegian government has postponed a decision on whether to mandate the construction of an oil processing terminal near the Arctic tip of northern Europe until the third quarter of next year, it said on Friday.If built, the onshore Veidnes terminal would receive crude via a pipeline from Equinor's offshore Johan Castberg oilfield, which is expected to start producing in late 2022.Equinor originally ditched plans for an onshore terminal in order to save costs, preferring instead to load oil on to crude tankers at the field before exporting it to global markets.Parliament earlier this year u

Norwegian minister of petroleum and energy Kjell-Børge Freiberg cut the first sheet for the topside of the Johan Castberg floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) at Kværner's yard at Stord on Wednesday as part of a large scale  project triggering ripple effects throughout Norway.The topside will be installed on the 200-meter long FPSO vessel that will be producing on the Johan-Castberg field for 30 years from the planned production start in 2022.The field development concept includes a FPSO vessel and extensive subsea development…

Equinor is signing collaboration agreements with Aker Solutions and TechnipFMC for subsea equipment and services on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) and internationally.For several decades, the subsea segment has been central in developing Equinor and the NCS. Equinor is operating close to 600 subsea wells, which account for a considerable share of the company’s total production. Norwegian supplier industry is in the forefront of subsea technology, development and operation.“We are building on many years of good cooperation with two world-leading suppliers in the subsea segment. Together with TechnipFMC and Aker Solutions we aim to further develop current solutions and keep up the pressure on continuous improvements that enables future profitable projects…

Digital technology developed in Norway will help improve recovery from the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea.Equinor has awarded Alcatel Submarine Networks a contract for permanent reservoir monitoring (PRM), which in turn has signed a letter of intent with Nexans Norway AS for delivery of subsea cable.“PRM is a central element of the digital strategy for Johan Castberg and will be an important tool in improving the Johan Castberg recovery rate,” says Johan Castberg project director Knut Gjertsen.The technology is developed in Norway, and the contract is awarded by exercising an option in the framework agreement on PRM that we…

Oil producer Equinor aims to boost the recovery rate from its Norwegian fields to well above the global average to extend production from the mature basin beyond 2030.Equinor announced plans on Tuesday to drill up to 3,000 wells offshore from its native Norway in coming decades - almost as many as it has drilled since its startup in 1972 - to mitigate declining output from older fields, and extend the production lifetime of more than 20 installations.The company said it remained on track for to keep profitable oil and gas production in Norway towards 2030…

Swedish oil firm Lundin Petroleum expects to increase its resource estimate for the Alta discovery in Norway's Arctic region following a successful two-month production test.Finding significant oil reserves in the Norwegian Arctic has been challenging for oil firms, but Alta is among the exceptions along with ENI's Goliat field and Equinor's Johan Castberg discovery.Lundin and its partners are considering developing the discovery as a subsea field connected to a floating production and storage vessel…

Kvaerner said it plans to invest NOK 370 million ($46.8 million) in a new quay at the company's facility at Stord. "The objective for this upgrade will be to make the facility more flexible. We invest now to strengthen our competitiveness, and this extension will position Kvaerner for deliveries of new solutions to both oil and gas projects and other market segments," said Kvaerner president & CEO, Jan Arve Haugan. The investment is subject to approval by Kvaerner's Board of Directors within a short period of time.

Fifteen production floaters were contracted in 2017 – 11 FPSOs, two production semis, a wellhead TLP and an FLNG – and the number of deep water projects in the near-term planning queue indicates production floater orders are set to accelerate. This is a big change from 2016 when orders for new units totally dried up and the deepwater future looked pretty bleak. Here’s a round-up of contracts awarded last year and in January 2018. Tempera FPSO - Keppel in January 2017 received a contract from Dixstone Holdings…