Shell UK Ltd. has let a contract for a not permanently attended installation (NPAI) to Aker Solutions for Jackdaw gas field, east of Aberdeen in the North Sea.
The award follows completion of front-end engineering and design work (FEED), awarded in June 2019. The scope includes engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of the complete wellhead platform consisting of a topside and a steel jacket, as well as related load-out and offshore hook-up and commissioning.
Fabrication of the wellhead platform will happen at Aker Solutions' yard in Verdal, Norway. The steel substructure, including a pre-drilling deck, is to be delivered from Aker Solutions' facilities to Shell in 2023, and the topside in 2024.
Aker Solutions will continue cooperation with external suppliers Rambøll and Leirvik, who were part of developing the FEED.
Jackdaw will comprise a wellhead platform, four production wells, and a 31-km pipeline from the platform to the Shearwater gas hub. The project is expected to come online mid-2020s, and at peak production rates estimated at 40,000 boe/d, could represent over 6% of projected UK North Sea gas production in the middle of this decade with operational emissions of less than 1% of the whole UK basin, the operator said in July (OGJ Online, Jul. 25, 2022).
