Bidders chasing a gas FPSO planned for Noble Energy’s giant deepwater Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea should know the winner by the end of this year.

The subject came up during a results presentation by Norway’s BW Offshore, one of those in the running to supply the gas FPSO for the field offshore Israel. An upbeat BW, having just recently captured a contract for the shallow-water Catcher field in the UK North Sea, is in contention to supply the 1.6 Bcf/d floater for Leviathan’s first development phase. The other bidders are Modec, SBM Offshore and Technip.

BW has of course already taken part in a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study for the Leviathan floater (between October 2012 and August last year). Its chief executive Carl Arnet said in the presentation: “They [Noble] have now asked us to update that FEED.”

The Leviathan floater is regarded by BW as an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) bidding prospect, with the unit destined to operate in a water depth of 1,700 m (5,576 ft).

Noble is understood to want to progress with the initial phase of development as quickly as possible, in a fast-track process it is hoping will replicate its outstanding performance in bringing its first deepwater project offshore Israel, Tamar, onstream so rapidly. Tamar has also so far produced a near-perfect operational record and production uptime so far, something that the US independent will be keen to replicate on Leviathan, which is expected to see its gas offloaded into pipelines to both Israel and other surrounding regional customers.

Asked about the timing of the Leviathan FPSO award, and another potential gas FPSO for the Kudu development (offshore Namibia), Arnet said: “On Leviathan and Kudu we expected to have decisions or we are being told that they are planning to have project sanction this year, say very late this year, so that is Q4. That is the most accurate information we have on potential awards for these projects.”

FEED studies are also ongoing, meanwhile, for the field’s Phase II development, which is based on a floating LNG (FLNG) system. BW is also involved in that process, DI understands.

The Leviathan field itself has an estimated 19 Tcf of discovered gas resources, with Noble pencilling in first gas sales for late 2017 under a 30-year development and production lease. The operator is also planning to drill an appraisal well on its nearby Cyprus gas discovery starting by the end of this year, as well as an exploration well targeting a Mesozoic oil prospect offshore Israel planned to spud during the second quarter of 2015.

Back with BW, the contractor added that Kudu was a lease prospect for a gas FPSO offshore Namibia in 170 m (550 ft) of water, with BW having participated in a FEED study between 2013 and earlier this year.

Its other floater prospects include Ayatsil-Tekel, another lease FPSO prospect for Pemex offshore Mexico. “We are awaiting further developments,” Arnet commented. Arnet was pressed further about the timing of awards for Kudu and Ayatsil, after a suggestion at the end of 2013 that both could be awarded by Q2 this year.

Arnet suggested that time frame was unlikely. “We say the client intends to order in that period. But our experience is that it takes a lot longer. We do not expect Ayatsil to be awarded anywhere near Q2. Our guess is maybe Q2 2015 if we were forced to give a guess,” he said.

Arnet was also asked about any further possible extension on the Abo field, where a BW unit is on a lease contract with Eni/Agip offshore Nigeria, which has been renewed until Q4 this year. He described it “as a bit special,” pointing out that the client has a purchase option on the production vessel. “We are under the impression that the client would like us to continue to operate the vessel but we must emphasise to the market that the client does have a purchase option and they could exercise that purchase option. If they make a purchase decision it is not a disaster for us, because if they purchase, the purchase price is higher than the book value and they may even ask us to continue to operate.”

Arnet continued: “We are just working the relationship with the client and doing what we are good at which is keeping the vessel producing within specification and to a suitable technical standard. And we would like to go on with the relationship with the client.”

Elsewhere, the company’s Azurite FDPSO – which has been on contract with Murphy Oil offshore Congo since 2009 – has now moved to Singapore, where it is being prepared for a future contract. Several opportunities are being evaluated for the FPSO: “There has been very good interest in the market for Azurite. That is very good for us and very pleasing.

“We are working on several concrete opportunities where the Azurite seems to be a very good fit. We expect to be able to come back later and tell more about that,” Arnet revealed. With the unit’s drilling capability, it is a tempting additional option for operators looking to keep their rig costs down for development drilling and workover programs.