Cost of BP's Skarv field could increase by $1.7 billion
BY KJETIL MALKENES
OSLO--The cost of the BP operated Skarv field offshore Norway could increase more than NOK10 billion from the original estimate of about $5.82 billion. Production start-up at Skarv was originally planned for 2011, but has been delayed until the fourth quarter of 2012 due to quality problems on the FPSO, according to BP. The Skarv FPSO was built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, but pipeline leakages meant the ship had to be repaired at a Norwegian shipyard, which took several months more than planned.
BP blamed the delay partly on the high pressure among offshore suppliers, and said it expected that other companies would also have trouble to get their projects on stream on schedule. "In addition to the trouble getting hold of rigs, there is an enormous pressure on engineering services. Suppliers say they don't have capacity to accept more jobs," BP's leader of transport and installations in Norway, Geir Edvardsen, told the weekly.
Statistics Norway said recently it expects record high petroleum investments in 2013 of $33billion, but warned that some planned wells may be delayed due to a lack of rigs, although the rig capacity is expected to grow somewhat next year.
The biggest owner of the Norwegian Sea oil and gas field Skarv is Statoil with about 36% share, on E&P has a 28% share, operator BP has 24% and PGNiG holds about 12%.
Dow Jones Newswires
08/24/2012