Lease based production services

Built in 1986, the Petrojarl 1 production vessel finished its 7th consecutive contract on January 26,1995 after having produced 17.9 mill barrels of oil from the UK Hudson field for Amerada Hess UK. This paper summarizes the main data relating to the 7 historic Petrojarl contracts. A total of 188 MMBBLS of oil has passed through the vessel in these 8 years, while working for 7 different operators. Max water depth has been 330 m (Troll) and minimum 71 m. (Angus). Max. production has been 41,200 BOPD from Hudson, while max throughput has been 310,000 BOPD acting as a FSO on Fulmar. Contractual regularity has been in excess of 98%, proving that a floater can deliver as well as the best gravity platforms even under North Sea conditions. Throughout, the vessel, and the associated shuttling services have been owned and operated by Golar-Nor Offshore AS, acting as a production contractor. Regularity and safety records have been remarkable, and what was perceived as exotic and unproven technology is today state-of-the-art. The advantages of production contracting have become clear to the industry, and this new contracting niche is now poised for rapid growth in the years to come. A result of this experience is that the Petrojarl 1 has now been contracted to ARCO British to produce their 24 MMBBLS Blenheim field over an expected period of 4 years. A further result is the new building project Petrojarl 4, currently under construction to meet First Oil in early 1996 from the Foinaven field West of Shetland for BP, in 500 m of water. The contracts are novel in their format and are further described. This paper examines the contract history that has led up this situation and discusses the way ahead