MODEC awarded contract to provide FSO for Maersk Oil's Culzean Field

Maersk Oil North Sea UK limited has contracted MODEC, Inc. to supply a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel for the Culzean development project in the U.K. Central North Sea.

The contract awards MODEC responsibility for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the FSO, while the internal turret mooring system will be designed and supplied by MODEC subsidiary SOFEC, Inc. The FSO will feature receiving capacity of 25,000 barrels of condensate per day, with storage capacity of 350,000 barrels.

MODEC president and CEO, Toshiro Miyazaki, noted that the new contract represents a milestone for the company as it marks MODEC's entry into the North Sea oil and gas industry.

MODEC said it expects to deliver the complete unit to Maersk Oil UK in the first half of 2018. The FSO will then be deployed at the high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) Culzean field approximately 145 miles off the coast of Aberdeen in water depth of approximately 295 feet.

The Culzean field, approved for development by the U.K. Oil & Gas Authority in August, is operated by Maersk Oil UK with co-venturers JX Nippon Exploration & Production (UK) Limited and BP.

Discovered in 2008, the gas condensate field has resources estimated at 250-300 million barrels of oil equivalent, according to Maersk Oil, who expects production commence in 2019 and continue for at least 13 years, with plateau production of 60,000-90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The field is expected to produce enough gas to meet five percent of total U.K. demand at peak production in 2020-2021.