Teekay Offshore Partners, midstream services provider to the offshore oil production industry, said that the agreement with Alpha Petroleum signed in October 2018 for Teekay’s Petrojarl Varg vessel to operate on Alpha’s 100%-owned Cheviot field was terminated.

Teekay revealed that deal was off, claiming Alpha had been unable to satisfy key conditions.

The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) contract to operate on the Cheviot oil field on the UK continental shelf was for a seven-year fixed term from first oil, which was targeted for the second quarter of 2021, after a life extension and upgrade phase for the Petrojarl Varg taking place at Sembcorp Marine’s shipyard in Singapore.

The effectiveness of the agreement remained subject to a number of conditions precedent being satisfied, including  that Alpha Petroleum provide initial funding to cover life extension and upgrade costs.

"As a result of this condition precedent not having been satisfied by the prescribed contractual deadline, this agreement and all commitments related thereto, have now been terminated and as such the Partnership and its subsidiaries will be immediately pursuing a range of alternative deployment opportunities for the Petrojarl Varg," said a release from Teekay.

Chris Brett, President Teekay Offshore Production, commented “We have been very impressed with the creativity, competence and determination of the Alpha Petroleum team to develop the Cheviot field which remains, in our opinion, a well-developed opportunity and we wish the Alpha team all the best in their continued efforts to bring the field into production."

Chris added: "From a Teekay Offshore perspective, we look forward to advancing the next project for the Petrojarl Varg, which could still include the Cheviot development under a revised financing model. The Varg FPSO has had a long history of reliable production on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and provides a flexible production solution for a wide range of future developments in the North Sea and beyond”.