Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) has awarded Aker Solutions (FRA: 1AKA) a pair of contracts for the Northern Lights project.
As part of the deals, Aker Solutions will deliver the new Northern Lights CO2 receiving facilities outside Bergen, Norway, and the subsea equipment for injecting captured CO2 into a reservoir for permanent storage. In total, the new contracts have a value of about $151 million (NOK 1.3 billion). Work will start in January 2021 and the deliveries will be completed within the first part of 2024.
The $122 million (NOK 1.05 billion) contract for the onshore facility includes engineering, procurement and construction (EPC). The engineering will be carried out by Aker Solutions in Fornebu, Norway, and work at the site in Oygarden will involve employees from several locations, primarily from Fornebu and Stord. The EPC contract for the subsea equipment was awarded as a call-off under the framework agreement signed with Equinor in 2017. The value of this contract is around $29 million (NOK 250 million) and the scope of the work includes the delivery of one subsea tree, one wellhead, one flow base and control systems.
Aker Solutions expects that around 250 employees will be involved in delivering the onshore and subsea installations. Including ripple effects to subcontractors and others, the new contracts will create work for approximately 1,000 people, according to Aker Solutions.
“We see that our customers, not the least among the oil and gas operators, are increasingly taking steps to contribute to a significant reduction of climate gas emissions,” Aker Solutions Chief Executive Officer Kjetel Digre said in a company statement.
“Aker Solutions’ strategy is to be the supplier that will enable both customers and the society to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy production. This will include solutions for enabling oil and gas production and other industrial processes such a cement manufacturing to operate with minimum emissions, for example by use of carbon capture and storage,” Digre added.
“Our goal is that low-carbon solutions and renewable business will count for 1/3 of our revenues in 2025, and 2/3 in 2030. Hence, we are very pleased that Equinor has awarded us these strategically important contracts,” Digre continued.
Northern Lights is part of the Norwegian government’s Longship project for establishing full scale CO2 capture, transport and storage facilities in line with the country’s international climate agreements.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
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