Wood Group wins Norwegian platform contract

ENERGY services heavyweight Wood Group has won an engineering contract, believed to be worth more than $50 million (£31.8m), to design an offshore oil and gas platform in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

The Aberdeen-based group, which is due to publish its full-year results next month, said its Mustang subsidiary will design the 13,700-tonne topsides facility for the platform in the Ivar Aasen field, situated about 110 miles west of Stavanger.

Mustang won the deal from Singaporean firm SMOE, which is carrying out the engineering and procurement work for field operator Det Norske. No value was disclosed, but it is understood the contract could be worth more than $50m.

Steve Knowles, president of Houston-based Wood Group Mustang, said up to 200 people across its London and Kuala Lumpur offices will work on the topsides project, which has a total value of about £462m.

He added: “We are looking forward to starting work on Det Norske’s first major facility and developing an excellent relationship with them, in addition to enhancing our existing relationship with SMOE.”

Construction work on the platform, which will include accommodation for 70 workers, is scheduled to begin in December. The Ivar Aasen field is estimated to contain about 150 million barrels of oil equivalent and first oil is expected in late 2016.

Det Norske has a 35 per cent stake in the field, with fellow Norwegian firm Statoil holding 50 per cent. Bayerngas Norge, which is jointly owned by Austrian, German and Swiss utilities, owns the remaining 15 per cent.

In a recent trading update ahead of its full-year results, due on 5 March, Wood said it enjoyed “good growth” in 2012, with profits at its engineering arm up more than 30 per cent.