Norway's Kvaerner will deliver the topside and steel jacket substructure to Valhall Flank West, Aker BP has announced in a press release. The platform will be built as an unmanned platform, and the order is valued at NOK one billion.

This order will require approximately 450 employees to work on the project on Kvaerner's Verdal yard in Western Norway, and the structures must be ready for installation on the field in August 2019.

The project marks the first construction under the alliance entered between Aker BP, Kvaerner and Aker Solutions in Spring 2017 to strengthen the collaboration between the three companies.

"This is an important milestone for the alliance and the development of Valhall Flank West. At the same time this contract is an important breakthrough in Kvaerner's strategy to become a leading supplier of small, cost effective platforms. For the past years we have invested in developing our own products and expertise for this type of smaller projects. Several oil companies are considering developments like this over the next years, and the interest in the product that we have developed, is positive," says Sturla Magnus, EVP in Kvaerner responsible for Structural Solutions and the yard in Verdal.

The Valhall fields are one of Norway's oldest oil fields and have been in production since 1982. The fields have thus far delivered over one billion barrels of oil and it is expected that a further 500 million barrels will be collected with the development of Valhall Flank West.

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