Kværner ASA: Johan Sverdrup platform sets new completion standard

15 March 2019 - As the Johan Sverdrup Utility and Living Quarter platform is transported to the offshore field, it sets a new standard for how complete an installation can be before sail-away. The result is saved costs and shorter time before the production can start the flow of revenues to the licence owners and to the society. The platform is delivered by the joint venture of Kvaerner and KBR, and is delivered on schedule and on budget.

Today, operator Equinor and the other licensees, KBR and Kvaerner celebrate the sailaway of the platform, with a symbolic release of the mooring lines of the platform. In the following days it will be towed out of the dry dock at Kvaerner's advanced facility at Stord and transported to field by the heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit.

The topside for the Johan Sverdrup Utility and Living Quarter (ULQ) platform was mechanically complete as early as October 2018. Through the winter, all systems have been thoroughly tested and made ready for sailaway. The topside was formally handed over to operator Equinor already on 15 February at 12:00 o'clock, exactly as agreed when the initial contract was signed three and a half years ago.

"The contract was signed on 8 June 2015, in the middle of the oil and gas downturn. We entered the project with high ambitions with regards to safety, productivity and cost improvements. I am proud to say that the joint team between Equinor, Kvaerner and KBR has met  those goals for the project", says Kvaerner CEO Karl-Petter Løken.

The advanced control room and various systems inside the Utility and Living Quarter platform makes it the nerve centre for the entire Johan Sverdrup field centre. In addition, the platform contains a 560 bed accommodation module.

The platform is one of four platforms of the first phase of the Johan Sverdrup field development. The platform is a complete delivery from the Kvaerner-KBR joint venture, with Leirvik AS as a key supplier of the accommodation module. A close  cooperation between Equinor, KBR, Kvaerner and Leirvik has been key to the successful delivery of the platform.

"The project has met every milestone along the way and is a text book example of good cooperation between client and contractors. We have delivered a platform that is as close to plug and play as it gets, and that is in large parts due to the open and constructive dialogue between all parties of the project", says Project Director Jan Tore Elverhaug.

The Johan Sverdrup ULQ is one of the first Norwegian platforms to be transported to field by Pioneering Spirit. The large lifting capacity of the vessel enables field installation in one single lift, making it possible to complete and test almost all parts of the topside while still at the yard. The project will now move into the next phase with hardly any carry-over work, which in turn has a positive impact on cost and HSSE.

The contract had a value for Kvaerner and KBR of NOK 6.7 billion. At peak, the project involved around 2000 persons, from Kvaerner, KBR, Leirvik and subcontractors.

Kvaerner has utilized the project to implement a wide range of improvements, not least a building method tailormade for the large Storen assembly crane at Stord. The method has enabled larger sections, more work on the ground and fewer integration zones.

Invitation to sailaway ceremony today at 10:30

Media is hereby invited to a sailaway ceremony at Kvaerner's yard at Stord, including speaches by Minister of Petroleum and Energy Kjell-Børge Freiberg, Stord Mayor Gaute Epland, Equinor EVP Arne Sigve Nylund, Kvaerner CEO Karl-Petter Løken and Jan Egil Braendeland, Executive Vice President KBR.

Media representatives who wish to attend are requested to register in advance to Odd Naustdal, Head of Communications Region West, Kvaerner. Mob: +47 905 76 079 / Email: odd.naustdal@kvaerner.com

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Media:
Odd Naustdal, Kommunikasjonssjef / Head of Communications West Norway, Kværner, Mobile: +47 905 76 079.e-mail: odd.naustdal@kvaerner.com

Torbjørn Andersen, Head of Communications, Kvaerner, Mob: +47 928 85 542, email: torbjorn.andersen@kvaerner.com

Investor Relations:
Idar Eikrem, EVP & CFO, Kvaerner, +Mob: +47 950 28 363, email: ir@kvaerner.com

About Kvaerner:
Kvaerner is a leading provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, and delivers offshore installations and onshore around the world. Kværner ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Kvaerner"), is an international contractor and preferred partner for oil and gas operators and other engineering and fabrication contractors. Kvaerner and its approximately 2 700 HSSE-focused and experienced employees are recognised for delivering some of the world's most amazing and demanding projects.

In 2018, Kvaerner's Field Development segment had consolidated annual revenues of NOK 7.2 billion and the company reported an order backlog at 31 December 2018 of NOK 10.6 billion. Kvaerner is publicly listed with the ticker "KVAER" at the Oslo Stock Exchange. For further information, please visit www.kvaerner.com.

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