Equinor awards $10 billion in contracts for maintenance and modifications. Key suppliers include Aibel and Aker Solutions. Learn more.
Equinor Awards $10 Billion in Supplier Contracts for Offshore
By Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Equinor said on Thursday it had signed framework agreements worth 100 billion Norwegian crowns ($9.93 billion) with a group of suppliers for maintenance and modifications of its offshore and onshore installations.
The new deals for a five-year period, with options to extend by a further three- and two-year periods, were signed with Aibel, Wood Group, IKM Group, Head Energy and Rosenberg Worley, Moreld Apply and Aker Solutions.
They replace deals signed in 2016 with Aibel, Apply, Wood Group, Aker Solutions and Reinertsen that expire in March. Aker Solutions acquired Reinertsen's offshore business in 2017.
CORE BUSINESS FOR SUPPLIERS
Aker Solutions said in a separate statement on Wednesday it would book its part of the five-year contracts, excluding options, as a major order intake in the first quarter of 2026.
It defines a major contract as being between 8 billion and 12 billion crowns.
Maintenance and modification contracts are widely seen as the core business of subcontractors to Norway's oil industry, amid lower demand for new field developments as large projects are wrapping up and few major oil and gas discoveries remain.
Privately-owned Aibel estimated the value of its five-year contracts to be around 20 billion crowns. Maintenance and modifications make up about 30-40% of its business in Norway.
"A lot of activity on the Norwegian continental shelf will revolve around existing infrastructure, upgrades, maintenance, tying in subsea fields. That's what these contracts are about today," Aibel CEO Mads Andersen told Reuters.
Aker Solutions CEO Kjetil Digre said it still expects oil companies to approve some sizeable new developments in the future, including Equinor's Wisting discovery in the Barents Sea, which was put on hold due to soaring costs in 2022.
On Wednesday, Aker Solutions announced layoffs at one of its Norwegian shipyards, which specializes in building steal constructions for offshore fields.
($1 = 10.0723 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Alexander Smith)
