Statoil ASA (NYSE: STO), on behalf of the Johan Sverdrup partnership, will sign a contract with Aibel for the construction of the deck for the drilling platform on the field, the company said in a Feb. 24 release.

The contract is worth in excess of NOK 8 billion (US$1 billion). It includes engineering work, procurement and construction (EPC) of the drilling platform deck. Engineering design will be undertaken at Aibel’s office in Asker outside Oslo.

The platform deck will be built at the Aibel’s yard in Thailand and Haugesund, and at Nymo’s yard in Grimstad. Assembly and mechanical completion of the deck will be carried out at the Aibel’s yard in Haugesund with delivery in 2018. Installation on the field is planned for the same year.

Investment costs for full field development are estimated to be in the region of NOK 170-220 billion (2015 value), or US$22.3-28.9 billion, with recoverable resources of between 1.7-3 billion barrels oil equivalent.

Johan Sverdrup’s first phase development involves four installations including an accommodation a drilling, a riser and process platform, as well as three seabed templates for water injection. The platforms will be connected by walkways.

The ambition is a recovery of 70%. At plateau production the field will account for roughly 40% of the total oil production on the Norwegian continental shelf. Start-up is planned for late 2019.

The Johan Sverdrup partnership consists of Statoil, Lundin Norway, Petoro, Det norske oljeselskap and Maersk Oil. The partnership has recommended Statoil as operator for all the field’s phases.

The award of this contract is subject to approval of the plan for development and operation in 2015 by the Norwegian Parliament.