Equinor Hires BW Offshore and Altera Infrastructure for Bay du Nord FPSO Job
Equinor has awarded pre-FEED study contracts to BW Offshore and Altera Infrastructure for the Bay du Nord floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, planned for deployment offshore Canada.
The Bay du Nord project consists of several oil discoveries in the Flemish Pass basin, some 500 km northeast of St. John’s in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The first discovery was made by Equinor in 2013, followed by additional discoveries in 2014, 2016 and 2020.
Equinor will develop the Bay du Nord field using a floating production unit for storage and offshore offloading (FPSO), which also is a suited solution for tie-back of adjacent discoveries and future prospects.
On January 22, BW Offshore and Altera Infrastructure announced they have been awarded separate contracts to perform the pre-FEED study for the FPSO.
“This award is a testament to our commitment to excellence, innovation, and delivering value to the energy industry.
The Bay du Nord development marks an exciting step forward for the offshore energy sector in Canada. The project aligns with Equinor Canada’s vision for innovation and sustainability, values that strongly resonate with BW Offshore’s mission,” BW Offshore said.
“This award follows our successful collaboration with Equinor on previous harsh environment operations and projects. The Bay du Nord FPSO required by Equinor is well aligned with our long history of delivering vessels specifically designed for harsh environments.
“Altera and our partners are honored to extend our collaboration with Equinor, competing for yet another demanding project,” Altera Infrastructure noted.
The Bay du Nord discovery lies in waters approximately 1170 meters deep, whilst the later discoveries are in adjacent exploration licence EL1156 (Cappahayden and Cambriol) lie in approximately 650 meters, and are potential tie-ins in a joint project development.
In May 2023, following changing market conditions and subsequent high-cost inflation, Equinor and its partner BP decided to postpone the Bay du Nord development project up to three years.
Equinor said at the time that the postponement would be utilized to optimize the project and continue to actively mature Bay du Nord towards a successful development.
