Samsung Heavy Industries succeeded in winning a large-scale offshore plant project commissioned by Norway's Statoil ASA.
This was the first offshore plant project out on the market this year. According to shipbuilding industry sources on June 29, Samsung Heavy Industries and Statoil will sign a contract on an oil platform to be installed in the North Sea by the 30th at the earliest.
The price tag for the deal is estimated at US$1.2 billion. Once the agreement is signed, Samsung will begin the construction of building two platforms, including one 25,000 tons and the other 21,000 tons, in the Johan Sverdrup oil field.
Korea's top-three shipbuilders including Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, as well as Samsung Heavy Industries, jumped into the fray. Most oil majors cancelled their offshore plant projects since late last year as oil prices tumbled. There have been no large-scale offshore plant projects since November last year.
For example, the Mozambican floating liquefied natural gas project, the Ubon project in Thailand, and the Nigerian floating production storage and offloading project were all announced a long time ago but delayed due to unfavorable market conditions.
A shipbuilding industry official said, "It is likely oil companies will resume their deep-sea oil development projects once the oil prices go up over $90 per barrel, which is a highly unlikely event any time soon. That's why we think new offshore platform orders won't come for a while."
