A Canadian subsidiary of KBR has received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from Equinor Canada for the front-end engineering design (FEED) of the topside facilities of the new Bay Du Nord floating production, storage, and offloading facility (FPSO) to be located offshore Newfoundland, Canada.
The agreement also includes an option for continuation of detailed design and procurement management services through to final completion of the 200,000 B/D FPSO. The FEED scope comes on the back of the pre-FEED engineering carried out by KBR in 2022 and will further mature the engineering and execution planning, working toward a final investment decision with first production expected to be in the late 2020s.
During the FEED engineering, KBR will continue to assist Equinor in developing one of the lowest-carbon-emitting FPSO’s in the world, using an onboard combined cycle power system and the latest technology to minimize the number of crew onboard and maximize digital solutions.
KBR will execute the work scope jointly with Canadian subcontractor Hatch Ltd., an employee-owned multidisciplinary engineering, project management, and professional services firm with a local office in St. John’s, Canada, and will provide Equinor with an integrated team across Canada and London.
“We are excited to be a part of this significant project with Equinor,” said Jay Ibrahim, president of KBR’s Sustainable Technology Solutions business. “This win is indicative of KBR’s strategic commitment to work with clients not only to secure energy supply for the world but to do it in a safe, responsible, and sustainable way. KBR adds maximum value to clients such as Equinor by drawing on our extensive global engineering expertise and applying the latest technology and processes to deliver extraordinary outcomes.”
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 project has estimated reserves believed to be around 1 billion bbl of oil.
The first discovery was made by Equinor in 2013, followed by additional discoveries in 2014, 2016, and 2020. Confirmed discoveries in 2020 in adjacent exploration license EL1156 (Cappahayden and Cambriol) are potential tie-ins in a joint project development. The Bay du Nord discovery is at a water depth of approximately 1170 m while the new discoveries are at around 650 m.
The Canadian governmentapproved the multibillion-dollar Bay du Nord offshore oil project last April. The decision comes following the conclusion of a multiyear environmental assessment that found the project would not likely cause significant adverse environmental effects to the planned development area.
Equinor is working together with its partner, BP, in the discoveries.
