Statoil awarded contracts valued at $370 million to five shipbuilders for a total of seven supply vessels at the end of June. All of the new vessels will be equipped for hybrid battery operation with the option of shore power connection.

“We look forward to a long-term cooperation with the chosen ship owners,” said Philippe F. Mathieu, Statoil’s senior vice president for joint operations support. “The contracts will bring predictability to both the ship owners and Statoil, and will allow us to focus on optimizing our operations to continuously improve operation, safety and energy efficiency.”

The seven vessels will operate from the bases at Mongstad, Dusavik, Florø and Kristiansund.

“The bidding process has attracted high attention, and we have received bids for around 50 vessels from many competent and highly qualified ship owners,” Mathieu said. “We require the crew on all vessels to speak one of the Scandinavian languages.”

Statoil said that four of the contracts are for five years, in addition to five one-year extension options. Three of the contracts will be for three years, along with three one-year extension options.

Five-year Contracts

Ship owner

Vessel

Ship owner office

Supply base

Skansi Offshore

Sjoborg

Torshavn, Færøyene

Mongstad

DOF

Skandi Mongstad

Austevoll

Mongstad

DOF

Skandi Flora

Austevoll

Dusavik

Solstad Farstad

Far Searcher

Skudeneshavn/Ålesund

Kristiansund

Three-year Contracts

Ship owner

Vessel

Ship owner office

Supply base

Ugland

Juanita

Grimstad

Mongstad

Havila

Havila Foresight

Fosnavåg

Mongstad

Havila

Havila Charisma

Fosnavåg

Florø

Statoil said it is focused on reducing emissions as part of its goal to be a corporate leader in carbon-efficient oil and gas production.

“Since 2011 we have reduced CO2 emissions from our vessel portfolio on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS) by close to 30%, and together with the ship owners we want to further reduce our climate footprint,” said Frida Eklöf Monstad, head of Statoil’s marine unit in the company’s logistics division. “Vessels that can demonstrate low fuel consumption have therefore been successful in this award. Based on our experience battery operation has a good impact on consumption and emissions, and we are pleased that all vessels awarded long-term contracts with us today will be equipped for battery power and shore power.”

While none of the vessels awarded contracts are equipped with systems for battery-operation or shore power, the company plans to install “Battery Power Notation” systems that will allow cost savings in fuel consumption while working in dynamic positioning alongside the installations.

Statoil already has two battery-operated vessels on contract.

—Joseph Markman

Offshore