Odfjell Drilling has been awarded by Aibel the drilling engineering sub contract for the Johan Sverdrup drilling platform topside, the company said in a Feb. 25 release.

Odfjell Drilling will be one of Aibel’s major sub-contractors for their engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contact for of the drilling platform topside for Johan Sverdrup in the Norwegian North Sea.

The contract runs until 2018 and will involve about 50 engineering professionals working various degrees in the project. The contact has an estimated value of about NOK 110 million (US$14.4 million).

Work will start immediately.

The overall project is being delivered to Statoil as operator for the Johan Sverdrup license. The total project will involve more than 3,000 associates at its peak, and is estimated for three years. The handover of the finished platform topside will be in the second quarter of 2018. The total contract has an estimated value of NOK $8 billion (US$1.1 billion).

The Johan Sverdrup Field is one of the largest discoveries on the Norwegian shelf. The first phase will be developed with four installations including housing, one drilling, one riser and a process platform, and three subsea templates for injection.

In addition to Odfjell Drilling, National Oilwell and Nymo will make important contributions to the building of the platform deck.