Equinor has awarded ocean services provider DeepOcean a frame agreement for marine services covering subsea intervention and repair contingency for subsea pipelines, structures and high voltage cables for both offshore renewables and oil and gas fields.
The agreement is valid for four years, with options to extend it for up to four more years.
Geographically the agreement is valid for work on the Norwegian continental shelf and internationally for planned Equinor work and for contingency work for the PRSI pool members. The PRSI pool consists of 23 energy companies that cover their offshore pipeline and power cable repair contingency via the pool.
DeepOcean will manage the contract delivery out of its office in Haugesund, Norway, supported by the company’s international operations wherever required.
“Such a long-term agreement allows us to constantly evolve working methods, collaboration models and technologies, with the objective of making offshore operations and subsea cable repair work as cost-effective as possible. We look forward to supporting Equinor and the PRSI Pool members over the coming years,” says Olaf A. Hansen, managing director of DeepOcean’s European operation.
Renewable energy and oil and gas
For work on offshore renewable energy fields, the agreement covers planned, or unplanned marine services related to subsea high voltage cables.
For work in the offshore oil and gas industry, the frame agreement covers planned or unplanned marine services using remote operated intervention methods with or without the use of PRS equipment.
Under the agreement, DeepOcean may also be asked to undertake various engineering or preparedness studies as requested by Equinor or PRSI pool members.
“DeepOcean has a 400 people-strong engineering team that are specialists on solving subsea challenges across industries. We are industry agnostic and share learnings and experiences from subsea operations across different types of operations and industries in order to develop the best possible solutions for our clients. Our experience from oil and gas is highly valuable for offshore renewables – and vice versa,” says Normann Vikse, offshore renewables director at DeepOcean.
First call-offs
DeepOcean has already received the first call-offs for work under the new frame agreement.
On behalf of Gassco and Equinor, DeepOcean will perform seabed preparations and complex remote hot tap tie-in operations at three different locations on the Norwegian continental shelf. Hot tapping is a method of connecting to a pressurised system, such as a pipeline, without removing the pipe from service.
On behalf of Gassco with Equinor acting as technical service provider, DeepOcean has already performed marine services to support baseline inline inspection of a large sized pipeline.