Aker Solutions and Statoil cancel Cat B contract
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
24 June 2013 - Aker Solutions ASA and Statoil ASA have cancelled a contract for
delivery of a semi-submersible rig capable of year-round well-intervention
services on the Norwegian continental shelf.
The companies in April 2012 agreed Aker Solutions would build the so-called
Category B (Cat B) rig and use it to provide Statoil with a range of well-
intervention and drilling services for an initial eight years, starting in
2015. The technology development needed to build the rig has since proven to be
considerably more demanding than initially anticipated and the parties on 24
June mutually agreed to terminate the contract with immediate effect.
"Aker Solutions and Statoil have together concluded that the project can't be
realised within the framework of the contract," said Per Harald Kongelf,
regional president for Norway at Aker Solutions. "Unfortunately, the
technological issues weren't solved in the initial system definition phase of
the project. We still believe in the concept of Cat B, but the technology needs
more time to be developed."
Well-intervention services are used to boost recovery rates from oil and gas
production wells and have traditionally taken place on fixed platforms. Ships
and rigs have in more recent years been developed to perform the same type of
service on subsea wells where recovery rates have been much lower. Developing
the subsea technology needed for Cat B to provide the required services in
shallow waters proved to be particularly challenging.
"We made significant progress in developing Cat B," Kongelf said. "We will seek
to use the experience we've gained to explore future possibilities for maturing
and realising this type of technology."
Each party will be accountable for its own project-related costs. Aker Solutions
will in the second quarter book a one-off cost of NOK 375 million, of which NOK
355 million shall be recognised as an impairment of the investments in the Cat B
project, while the remaining are operating costs. The charter period's contract
value of NOK 11.2 billion will be removed from Aker Solutions' order backlog,
which totalled NOK 71.7 billion at the end of March 2013.
The Cat B project was within the company's oilfield services business unit,
which Aker Solutions has previously said it intends to spin off. The
clarification surrounding the Cat B contract is expected to aid this process.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Media:
Bunny Nooryani, Chief Communications Officer, Aker Solutions. Tel:
+47 67 59 42 71, Mob: +47 480 27 575, E-mail: bunny.nooryani(at)akersolutions.com
Investor relations:
Lasse Torkildsen, SVP Investor Relations, Aker Solutions. Tel: +47 675 13 039,
Mob: +47 911 37 194, E-mail: lasse.torkildsene(at)akersolutions.com
Aker Solutions provides oilfield products, systems and services for customers in
the oil and gas industry world-wide. The company's knowledge and technologies
span from reservoir to production and through the life of a field.
Aker Solutions brings together engineering and technologies for oil and gas
drilling, field development and production. The company employs approximately
28 000 people in more than 30 countries. We apply the knowledge and create and
use technologies that deliver our customers' solutions.
Aker Solutions ASA is the parent company in the group, which consists of a
number of separate legal entities. Aker Solutions is used as the common brand
and trademark for most of these entities. In 2012 Aker Solutions had aggregated
annual revenues of approximately NOK 45 billion. The company is listed on the
Oslo Stock Exchange.
This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is
subject to our disclaimer, see www.akersolutions.com.
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section
5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
This announcement is distributed by Thomson Reuters on behalf of
Thomson Reuters clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and
other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and
originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Aker Solutions ASA via Thomson Reuters ONE
[HUG#1711398]
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Datum: 24.06.2013 - 08:45 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 272351
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"Aker Solutions and Statoil cancel Cat B contract"
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