Wood Bags Deal from Harbour to Service UK North Sea Assets

John Wood Group PLC has scored multiple contracts worth a combined $330 million from Harbour Energy PLC under a strategic partnership deal for the latter's operations in the United Kingdom side of the North Sea.

Under the deal called a master services agreement, "Wood will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and operations and maintenance (O&M) services, including digital and decarbonization solutions, for a number of Harbour’s offshore assets critical to UK energy security", Wood said in a recent press release.

"The strategic partnership will run for an initial term of five years, with five one-year extension options covering Harbour’s operated assets, including its J-Area, Greater Britannia Area, Solan and AELE (Armada, Everest, Lomond and Erskine) hubs".

In AELE Harbour's agenda for 2023 includes well intervention scopes and the maturation of a potential infill opportunity in the North West Seymour appraisal well, according to information on the company's website. Armada, Everest, Lomond and Erskine had a combined average production of 27,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) last year, based on data on the site.

Harbour is the operator of the Armada group of fields, the Everest platform and the Lomond platform with a 100 percent stake in each of the three assets. The Erskine gas field is a non-operated asset in which it holds a 32 percent interest.

In the Great Britannia Area (GBA), which produced 31,000 boepd on average 2022, Harbour plans to resume drilling on the Callanish field in the second half of this year and appraise another discovery in the Leverett field for tieback to the GBA infrastructure. "Harbour is also maturing further exploration and appraisal opportunities in the area as well as a potential infill opportunity on Brodgar targeting an area to the east of the field", the company says on its website.

Harbour operates four assets in the GBA: the Britannia platform with a 58.7 percent interest, the Brodgar field with 93.75 percent, Callanish with 83.5 percent and the Enochdhu field with 50 percent. It also holds a 26.3 percent non-operated interest in the Adler field project.

In the J-Area, Harbour's second biggest production contributor last year with 30,000 boepd, development drilling is planned at the Talbot field and the Jocelyn South exploration well this year. Targeted to start producing 2024, the Talbot project consists of a multi-well subsea tieback to J-Area facilities, according to information on the website.

Harbour operates the Jade field with a 67.5 percent interest, the Jasmine field with 67 percent and the Judy field with 67 percent. Talbot is operated by Chrysaor Petroleum Co. UK Ltd. with a 36.5 percent interest, while Chrysaor Ltd. holds 30.5 percent. Both companies are wholly-owned indirect subsidiaries of Harbour.

Wood executive president of operations Steve Nicol said in a statement Wood is "confident our integrated digital solutions and world-leading engineering, operations and decarbonization expertise will enable Harbour to maximize their investment and ensure the UK continues to have the energy mix it needs".

"We have worked on North Sea assets for more than 50 years and excel in designing and managing the complexity of energy infrastructure while at the same time seeking to minimize associated emissions", Nicol added.

Harbour vice-president of supply chain Audrey Stewart commented that "the signing of this contract is an important step forward in establishing our suite of long-term strategic partnerships across our North Sea assets".

Wood said the execution of the contracts would employ hundreds of people in its operations business in the Scottish city of Aberdeen, with further hiring expected next year.

To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com