Norway's Aibel has agreed to take on the role of partner EPC contractor for small pools focused firm Marginal Field Development Co. (MFDevCo)'s marginal field initiative and its future projects.
Aibel initially joined MFDevCo's marginal field delivery consortium in February 2016, to provide project management and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services. The new agreement represents a significant increase in Aibel's commitment to the development of marginal and stranded field projects alongside MFDevCo, says Nu-Oil, an investor in MFDevCo.
Aibel has committed to investing in establishing the working structure for MFDevCo and the consortium, including supporting business development, in return for exclusive rights to provide project management, engineering and EPC services throughout the life of MFDevCo projects.
Aibel's commitment will allow MFDevCo to target fields in deeper water, further improve cost efficiencies and take advantage, in future, of emerging proven technologies, Nu-Oil says.
It will also improve MFDevCo's ability to demonstrate at an early evaluation stage the robust technical suitability of the solutions for a given field and, with a very high level of confidence, the associated costings.
MFDevCo has been developing and progressing its marginal field initiative for six years.
Alison Pegram, managing director of MFDevCo, said: "Our primary focus recently has been on negotiations to secure projects and, with those progressing well, the signing of this announcement with Aibel is very timely as their support will be critical not only for the delivery of those projects, but also for future development of our solutions."