Wintershall has awarded its first significant subsea contract for its Norwegian activities. The contract, worth about $280 million, for Wintershall’s Maria development has been given to FMC Technologies’ Norwegian subsidiary FMC Kongsberg Subsea AS.

The frame agreement with FMC Technologies will first be used to source and build a comprehensive subsea production system for Wintershall’s Maria development in the Norwegian Sea.

Similar systems for future subsea fields are under consideration for Wintershall’s Skarfjell development in the North Sea. A new extension north of the producing field Brage also is being investigated. Under the proposed development solution, the Maria Field would be linked to the already existing infrastructure nearby via a subsea tie-back. Based on this plan, the Maria Field would be connected with the producing platform Kristin, Åsgard and Heidrun via two subsea templates.

There are two elements to the contract. FMC Technologies will deliver a comprehensive subsea production system (SPS) for the Maria development. This includes engineering, procurement and construction. The Maria SPS consists of two integrated template manifolds with their respective trees and auxiliary equipment. It also includes the dynamic and the static umbilical, the production riser base and the subsea umbilical termination unit and the subsea control system.

About 200 km (124 miles) from the Trondheim coastline, Maria is situated on the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea. The field is located 20 km (12 miles) east of the Kristin Feld and 45 km (28 miles) south of the Heidrun Field in the blocks 6407/1 and 6406/3. The discovery is expected to produce around 130 MMbbl of oil and just over 2 Bcm (70.6 Bcf) of gas.

Wintershall Norge is the operator with a 50% share. The other licensees are Petoro with 30% and Centrica with 20%.