Independent E&P company Energean has awarded Aberdeen-based ROVOP, a global supplier of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and services, a 5-year ROV support contract for Energean’s gas-focused operations in the Eastern Mediterranean.
ROVOP will deploy a work-class ROV onboard Energean’s field support vessel Energean Star, a converted platform supply vessel designed to carry out a range of support tasks, ROVOP announced in a news release.
Deployed from Cyprus, the Energean Star is currently positioned on the Karish gas field, 75 km offshore Israel in 1750 m water depth. There, the ROVOP system and crew will accomplish a range of tasks from general ROV support to subsea survey and intervention works, supporting maintenance and further field development, the release said.
First gas flowed from Karish in October 2022, produced by Energean’s own (and the Eastern Mediterranean’s only) floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Energean Power. In March, Energean completed installation of a gas export riser to enable the FPSO to eventually reach its 8 billion m3/year nameplate capacity.
Most recently, the UK/Israeli listed independent announced on 24 August that it had agreed to a letter of award with TechnipFMC to expedite TechnipFMC’s provision of an integrated front-end engineering and design (FEED) study to facilitate delivery of a full-field subsea architecture design for “the broader Katlan field development” adjacent to Karish.
The two sides expect to execute a final contract in September.
Energean said it plans a network of deepwater tiebacks linking the Energean Power to other fields within a 55 km radius of Karish, including Karish North, the Tanin field, and the Olympus Area in Block 12, which has been renamed Katlan (Hebrew for orca, colloquially known as a killer whale).
The FEED study is expected to be completed by December 2023 to support a development plan that Energean is finalizing to submit to Israeli authorities. The plan will detail how the operator will exploit Katlan’s 68 billion m3 of gas reserves estimated after a five-well exploration campaign.
The study will also support the project’s FID support package, Energean said in a news release.
With regard to ROV equipment and services, Mark Gilmartin, ROVOP’s business development director, called the Energean award “a real milestone contract,” given that it represents ROVOP’s largest field support contract yet and its first dedicated field support award for an E&P company.
Backed by specialist energy private equity firm Bluewater, ROVOP supports subsea operations in offshore wind and the utilities industry as well as oil and gas.
The contract is Energean’s first long-term ROV support contract. Energean’s head of subseas, Lenas Mylonas, called “ROVOP’s dedicated focus on standalone ROV services … a key reason behind our decision.” He added that both sides anticipate “a long and successful relationship … as we both maintain and grow the Karish gas field.”
